Playlist: January

Albums currently in rotation:


Albums

• Shearwater—Animal Joy (2012)
• Amplifier—The Octopus (2011)
• Craig Armstrong—Film Works 1995-2005 (2005)
  
• Spiritualized—Ladies and Gentlemen, We are Floating in Space (1997)
• John Hammond Jr.—In Your Arms (2005)
• Feist—Metals (2011)
• Apparat—Devil's Walk (2011)
• Mike Scott—Still Burning (1997)
• David & David—Boomtown (1985)
• Various Artists—Ahk-Toong Bay-bi, U2 tribute (2011)
• Otis Taylor—Contraband (2012)
• Field Music—Measure (2010) 
• Little Feat—Feats Don't Fail Me Now (1974)
• Crowded House—North American Travelogue (2010)
• Led Zeppelin—Shepperton Studios Rehearsal (2007) 
• Alison Krauss & Union Station—New Favorite (2001)
• The Smiths—The Sound of The Smiths (2008)

Singles and EPs

• Radiohead—The Daily Mail/Staircase (2011)
• King Creosote & Jon Hopkins—Honest Words EP (2011)
• Taylor Swift (feat. The Civil Wars)—Safe & Sound (2012) 
• Pure Reason Revolution—Valour EP (2011)
• School of Seven Bells—The Night (2012)
• Sharon Van Etten—Serpents (2012)
• Van Halen—Tattoo (2012) 
• Porcelain Raft—Drifting in and Out (2012)
• Chairlift—I Belong in Your Arms (2012)

SHEARWATER

I've been listening to a review copy of Shearwater's Animal Joy (to be released on Sub Pop, Feb 14.) for the past three months. Since I first discovered Shearwater in 2008, they've become one of my top five favorite bands of all time. Yes, they're that good. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that they are America's greatest band right now.

Shearwater is from Austin and they're hugely influenced by late-era Talk Talk. But, rather than mimicking the sound of Mark Hollis & co., they've taken that band's spirit (of Eden) and infused it into their Americana art rock.

Shearwater's past three albums, Palo Santo (2006), Rook (2008) and The Golden Archipelago (2010) are essential to your record collection. I never thought they'd surpass their masterpiece Rook, but Animal Joy is the band's best album to date. It's so good that it may well top my list of the best albums of 2012.

I'm not the only person who rates the album that highly. Last week, music critics Bob Boilen, Ann Powers, Stephen Thompson and Jacob Ganz selected the best new releases coming up over the next few months for NPR's All Things Considered.

Here's what Thompson, former Onion A.V. Club editor, said during the show, "I know what you're saying: This year, this 2012 we're talking about, it's still young. But I've now set my little placeholder for my album of the year and now everything I listen to will be trying to knock it off. A band I've talked about on this show that I love: Shearwater."

Animal Joy is a musical and lyrical departure from the past three albums. In fact, frontman Jonathan Meiburg told me that Animal Joy is almost the inverse of The Golden Archipelago. This one is more immediate, he said, and there aren't any strings or glocks on it; the rhythm section is high in the mix. There's less exotic instrumentation and the core sound is based around drums, bass, and guitars—though there's gorgeous harp on two songs and a bit of piano and minimalist keyboard—and so there's a palpable feel of momentum and energy that carries through the record from start to finish. (The album artwork reflects that departure—the same designers of the past two album covers have used a photo from the natural history museum of a taxidermied animal with big claws. It's a black and white cover but they've created a new red font for the band's name.)

It is Shearwater's most infectious set of tunes. The album's melodies and choruses are so strong that you'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite, though I'd nominate the following songs: "Dread Sovereign," "Pushing the River," "Believing Makes it Easy" and, especially a song called "Open Your Houses." There's an epic on it called "Insolence" that is the best thing they've ever done. Take a listen to the stellar first single, "Breaking the Yearlings" above (click on it for a free download).

What I love about Animal Joy is that it still sounds distinctly like a Shearwater album yet a wholly new iteration of the band's sound.

We live in an era in which most bands sound like echo-boxes of their influences. By contrast, I've always felt that one of Shearwater's many strengths is that you sound like no one else.

Take a listen to, and download for free, the lead single, from the widget at the top of the page.

 

AMPLIFIER

For Christmas, my friend Simon in Manchester gave me a copy of Amplifier's album The Octopus. (For great music tips, follow Simon on Twitter at @sgort100.) I've been aware of Amplifier ever since I read Classic Rock Presents Prog's lead review of the double album but I never got around to checking them out. I've been missing out!

This record is fantastic and fans of the now defunct band Oceansize will love it. Indeed, Oceansize shared a camaraderie with fellow Mancunian band Amplifier, with the bands referring to each other as “brothers-in-amps.” Since the split of Oceansize, Durose has been touring with Amplifier as their second guitarist.

Amplifier's sound is more progressive than prog. It's often Sabbath heavy and with space rock and dark psychedelic influence. As a double album, The Octopus makes for pretty dense listening but they mostly pull it off thanks to great melodies.

This epic track, "Interstellar," is a great example of their sound. You'll have to wait a good 3 and a 1/2 minutes for the hooky chorus to kick in and each time the chorus returns it gets better and better and the song builds in intensity and fervor: Even better is "Trading Dark Matter on the Stock Exchange," with an almost jazzy, yet sinister, feel. And Muse would kill for the chorus that comes in mid way through "Minion's Song."

Try "Insect Song" (video above), which is available as a free download at http://amplifier.bandcamp.com/track/planet-of-insects

My fave albums of 2011

Here's a paradox for you: The better an album is, the less I listen to it. In making a list of my favorite albums of 2011, I can easily identify the best records of the year by the one's I've listened to the least. They're the albums I most want to savor and so, to make each listen a special experience, I ration how often I listen rather than overdose on them. That's certainly true of my top 10 fave albums of the year, which I've listed below. (Only studio albums released in 2011 qualify for the list which is why great live albums such as Jeff Beck's Rock 'n' Roll Party and Gary Moore's Live at Montreux 2010 didn't make the cut.)

In compiling my wholly subjective list, I must stress that only the top 20 or so albums fit roughly into an order of preference. After that, the rest of the list is haphazardly arranged. After all, it's difficult to truly scale an order of ranking between albums of such disparate genres. Indeed, my list spans genres including indie rock, blues, world music, electronica, progressive rock, metal, folk, and Americana.

I'm sure my list of fave albums has gaps in it. because there are doubtless many great albums that I haven't heard. That's not for lack of trying. I'm constantly seeking out new music by listening to albums sent by publicists, reading music reviews by great music journalists—some of whom I am proud to call my friends—such as The Guardian's Alexis Petridis (@alexispetridis), The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot (@gregkot), Rolling Stone's Simon Vozick-Levinson (@simonwilliam), Under the Radar's Laura Studarus (@laura_studarus), Laura Ferreiro (@Lauralista), The Wall Street Journal's Jim Fusilli (@wsjrock) and Innerviews' Anil Prasad (@innerviews). I also rely on the great counsel of my old friend and music guru, Simon Gort. (Follow Simon on Twitter at @sgort100.)

For Christmas, my friend Simon gave me Amplifier's rock epic The Octopus and it is a late entry into my list. He also sent me Apparat's The Devil's Walk after I expressed how much I loved a track on it called "Escape." I haven't had time to listen to it, yet, so it's not in my top 50 list. There are many albums released this year that I've only heard parts of, or given a cursory listen on Spotify, and wish I could delve into further, including:

tUnE-yArDs—whokill, Tom Waits—Bad as Me, Bass Communion—Cenotaph, Rival Sons—Pressure and Time, Ryan Adams—Ashes & Fire, Jimmie Vaughan—Plays More Blues, Ballads and Favorites, Ry Cooder—Pull Up Some Dust, Necro Deathmort—Music of Bleak Origin, Eddie Vedder—Ukelele Songs, Steve Cropper—Dedicated, Wye Oak—Civilian.

So much great music, so little time.

Ok, enough preamble.

MY FAVORITE 50 ALBUMS OF 2011 




1. Steven Wilson—Grace for Drowning

Though he is best known as the leader of the British band Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson’s extracurricular activities include the art-rock group No-Man, the pop-rock band Blackfield, the Krautrock of I.E.M., and the minimalist drone electronica of Bass Communion. On his second solo record, the prolific polymath combines his disparate music personalities to forge a sound uniquely his own. Over the course of the double album, Wilson draws on textural electronica, piano balladry, trip-hop, soundtrack-like soundscapes, doom rock, and eastern-tonality jazz to create eargasmic melodies. The subject matter of the songs ranges from the gravitational collapse of a relationship ("No Part of Me"), to the onset of paranoid depression ("Remainder the Black Dog"), to the story of a home invasion that doesn't end well for a family ("Raider II"). In short, it's an album so dark and ambitious it would give Trent Reznor whiplash. On Grace for Drowning, Wilson reaches musical and emotional planes most artists don't know exist.

2. PJ Harvey—Let England Shake
3. Fleet Foxes—Helplessness Blues
4. Opeth—Heritage
5. St. Vincent—Strange Mercy
6. Kate Bush—50 Words for Snow
7. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins—Diamond Mine
8. Paul Simon—So Beautiful or So What
9. Elbow—Build a Rocket Boys!
10. John Wesley—The Lilypad Suite
11. Radiohead—The King of Limbs
12. TV on the Radio—Nine Types of Light
13. Laura Marling—A Creature I Don't Know
12. Washed Out—Within and Without
13. The Waterboys—An Appointment with Mr. Yeats
14. Low—C'mon
15. Gregg Allman—Low Country Blues
16. The Black Keys—El Camino
17. Joe Bonamassa—Dust Bowl
18. I Break Horses—Hearts 
19. Kate Bush—Director's Cut 
20. Alison Krauss & Union Station—Paper Airplane
21. Tinariwen—Tasili
22. The Civil Wars—Barton Hollow 
23: The Horrors—Skying
24. Peter Gabriel—New Blood
25. Feist—Metals
26. Blackfield—Welcome to My DNA
27. Evanescence—Evanescence 
28. Pajama Club—Pajama Club
29. Lanterns on the Lake—Gracious Tide Take Me Home 
30. Robbie Robertson—How to Become Clairvoyant
31. Foo Fighters—Wasting Light
32. Amplifier—The Octopus 
33. Black Country Communion—Black Country Communion II
34. Liam Finn—FOMO
35. Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara—In Trance
36. R.E.M—Collapse Into Now 
37. Joy Formidable—The Big Roar
38. Eilen Jewell—Queen of the Minor Key
39. City and Color—Little Hell
40. Henrik Freischlader—Still Frame Replay 
41. M83—Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
42. Tim Hecker—Ravedeath 1972
43. Bon Iver—Bon Iver
44. Chickenfoot—Chickenfoot III
45: Joseph Arthur—Graduation Ceremony 
46. John Martyn—Heaven and Earth
47. Joe Bonamassa & Beth Hart—Don't Explain
48. Chris Isaak—Beyond the Sun
49. Iron & Wine—Kiss Each Other Clean
50. Yes—Fly from Here 

A few other thoughts and observations about the year in music...
    
It started horribly. On February 6, my all-time favorite guitarist Gary Moore died of natural causes in his sleep at the age of 58. I've expressed what a terrible loss this premature death was to the music world elsewhere in my blog. I don't anticipate too many posthumous Gary Moore releases from here on other than the re-releases of several old concert videos on DVD and Blu-Ray. Though Gary was working on a new blues album at the time of his death, he had only created a few demos. A concurrent project he was also demoing was a return to the celtic-rock style he first played on Thin Lizzy's Black Rose (which was re-released this year with a bonus disc of unheard material) and mastered on great albums such as 1987's Wild Frontier and 1989's After the War. Half a year before his passing, Gary played a European tour of music from those albums and the set included three new songs. Fortunately, an album and DVD of the tour, Live at Montreux 2010, captured those superb new songs for posterity and left us with a fitting reminder of Moore's unparalleled diversity of musical styles and his peerless emotional guitar playing.

    This past year, I found myself craving more roots and boogie music. I've been feeding this musical side of me by listening to the likes of Little Feat, Taj Mahal, John Hammond Jr., and Jimmie Vaughan. I've been getting my fill of that sort of music every week by my favorite DJ, Chris "Rock Professor" Prior in South Africa. Download the podcast of his weekly radio show at: http://krips48.podomatic.com/

In all, a good year for music for my ears. I hope it's been a good music year for you, too.

Playlist: November

Albums currently in rotation:

• King Creosote & Jon Hopkins—Diamond Mine (2011)
• The Civil Wars—Barton Hollow (2011)
• Caravan—In the Land of Grey and Pink: 40th Anniversay Edition (1971)
• Rush—Time Machine: Live in Cleveland (2011)
• Peter Gabriel—New Blood (2011) 
• Kate Bush—50 Words for Snow (2011) 
• Levin Torn White—Levin Torn White (2011) 
• Matt Stevens—Relic (2011)

If you're wondering why I'm only posting November's playlist now that it's over half way through December, it's because I spent most of that month working on my novel. I finished the first draft of the novel just a few days ago. Months of hard work but I'm thrilled with how it's turning out. More details in the months to come as I work on the edit/rewrite. Given the intensity of the writing process, November's playlist was slim. (I wish I could write and listen to music at the same time but I often find I need all my faculties attuned to listening to the ideas for the page.) However, November produced one of my favorite albums of the year: Kate Bush's 50 Words for Snow

At the start of 2011, absolutely no one would have predicted that Kate Bush would release not one, but two, albums in a year. This reclusive artist last emerged with an album in 2005 with Aerial. Before that, her previous album was released in 1993. (To get my extensive thoughts on Kate's first release of 2011, Director's Cut, an album in which Kate reworked some of her older songs, scroll further down to my June playlist.) Half a year later, we've been spoiled with her first new album of brand new material, 50 Words for Snow.

50 Words for Snow is an enthralling work. Much has been made of the fact that this new album is a concept record about winter and snow. But there's also another common denominator that links the songs (the shortest of which is 7 minutes long): They're all about loss and people (and, er, a Yeti) desperately trying to make a connection with each other.

Like her previous masterpiece, Aerial, it's an album of two distinct halves. The first half of the album is stripped down with voice and piano to the fore (there's also some orchestration, muted electronic effects, and jazzy drumming by Steve Gadd). The use of minimalism and space is perfect for these songs about exposed elements, wintry tundra, harrowing blizzards, and bodies drowned under ice. We're definitely back in "Ninth Wave" territory for the first half of the album. These songs are unsettling yet strangely beautiful.

The opener, "Snowflake," is about a mother searching for her child. "Lake Tahoe" is about a dog who pines for his mistress, a woman who drowned in the ice in the Victorian era and never returned home. The latter part of the song imagines the two meeting up once again in the dog's dream (or is it the afterlife?) and the emotion of the song caught me off guard. The third track, "Misty," imagines a one night stand between a woman and—brace yourself—a snowman briefly inhabited by a spirit of some sort. What sounds laughable and wacky on the page turns of to be a strangely affecting and heartrending tale. Once again, it's Kate's unique imagination that sets her apart. These first three songs are at least 10 minutes long and they're transportive.

The second half boasts more colorful instrumentation and is more upbeat. The single, "Wild Man," has a good chorus. (See above video to hear it.) The title track doesn't sound that appealing on paper: it's a song in which the British actor and raconteur Stephen Fry lists 50 words for snow. But it has the niftiest chorus and it's been stuck in my head for days. On this track, as on "Pi" on Aerial, Kate sounds amazingly sensual even when she is just counting out numbers. There's also a duet with Elton John called "Snowed in on Wheeler Street." Although I think the song would have been better with a singer such as Peter Gabriel or Marillion's Steve Hogarth, the epic ballad packs quite an emotional punch. The closer, "Among Angels," is a beaut and it's Kate's most emotional performance on the album.

She's still my favorite female singer of all. Like so many other singers—Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant—Kate may have lost her youthful vocal range with age but, like those aforementioned artists, she has more than compensated by becoming a more expressive, more emotional vocalist in the process. 

Kate's previous album, Director's Cut, consisted of remakes of earlier songs she was dissatisfied with. Her old friend (and duet partner on "Don't Give Up"), Peter Gabriel, has also revisited songs from his back catalog on his latest, New Blood. Most recently, Gabriel released Scratch My Back, a purely orchestral album in which the singer covered songs by the likes of The Talking Heads, Radiohead, Elbow, Paul Simon and many others. To my ears, that album was only intermittently successful as only a very few songs, such as "Boy in the Bubble," offered compelling alternative readings to iconic songs. So I was naturally leery of new orchestral album, New Blood. But I checked out "Rhythm of the Heat" on Spotify after reading a review of the album and I was so taken with it that I bought the record. 



A few of the new versions, including "Don't Give Up" and "Digging in the Dirt," don't even come close to the originals. That said, there are tracks such as "Rhythm of the Heat" and "San Jacinto" and "Wallflower" and "Intruder" that far outstrip the originals. To his credit, Gabriel has avoided what he has termed "Hollywood soundtrack" orchestral sounds in favor of something earthier and more primal. His voice, meanwhile, is still utterly fantastic, especially when he opens up his pipes and lets out those lupine howls. I hope that Peter will create new material next (and hope he gives Tony Levin and David Rhodes a call). And the next album better not be another Up.

The term "Power Trio" is often bandied about quite liberally but only a few band units truly live up to such billing. The term certainly applied to Cream. It applies doubly so to Rush. And Levin Torn White have so much firepower that you'd swear their amps go up way past 11. The trio's debut album is not for the faint of ear. This wholly unusual instrumental record is often brutal, noisy, and abrasive. It's also shot through with moments of sublime beauty and harmony.

The album's unusual textures stem from the inside-out guitarwork of David Torn. A recording artist for both ECM and Windham Hill labels, Torn is very much an art rock guitarist who has recorded with the likes of Tori Amos, David Sylvian, Mick Karn, and David Bowie. Torn is very much a guitarist more interested in spacial textures than playing straightforward scales. On Levin Torn White, the guitarist can sound his instrument like a dentist's drill, a hornet's nest, and an electrical grid about to go on the fritz. He can also produce spectral beauty from his guitar on tracks such as "Convergence."



Much of the album's oomph comes from Alan White. Though White is widely respected as the drummer of YES, he is nevertheless one of rock's most underrated drummers. White has tremendous technique and awesome power. You wouldn't always know that from YES records. The band's latest record, Fly From Here, is their best in well over a decade but, alas, White's drums are buried low on the mix and the only time his fusillade drumming is showcased is on the extended version of "Hour of Need" on the Japanese edition of Fly From Here. White more than compensates on Levin Torn White with some heavy hitting, trippy time signatures, and different drum sounds.


Added propulsion comes from Tony Levin is one of the world's great bassists and Chapman Stick virtuosos. He has played with the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Paul Simon, Tom Waits, James Taylor, Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe, Warren Zevon, Pink Floyd, and Dire Straits.(Fun fact: Both White and Levin played with John Lennon.) But Levin is perhaps best known as the longtime bassist and stick player in King Crimson and related Crimson projects. Levin adds unexpected funkiness and probing basslines to the trio's music.

If you're fond of the more outré adventures of King Crimson and Robert Fripp, this album is for you. It's uneasy listening. But if you're feeling bold, take a trip into this 4th dimension of sound.

I'd heard of Matt Stevens long before I heard him. The guitarist is closely aligned with Britain's modern progressive rock movement though I must say that his music sounds less prog than it does progressive. (That's a compliment by the way.) Stevens' specialty is acoustic guitar, an often underutilized lead instrument in progressive music nowadays. The acoustic guitar is the lead instrument on Stevens' latest record, Relic, which consists of 10 delightful instrumentals. That's not to say that it's an acoustic record. Bass, electric guitar, and drums are consistent ingredients throughout but, more often than not, it's acoustic guitar that's to the fore.

On tracks such as "Rushden Fair" and "Sand (Part 2)," Stevens creates delicate lattices of harmonic interplay with his finger-picked guitar. Elsewhere, the arrangements and riffs of "Nightbus," "20 GOTO 10," and the title track pack a crunch that will appeal to fans of The Pineapple Thief and Radiohead. On "Frost," Stevens demonstrates that he's no slouch on the electric guitar either as he grinds out a gnarly riff and tears through lead lines so quickly that one imagines smoke coming off the strings. "The End" evokes a feel similar to Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross" without sounding like it.

My favorite track on Relic is titled "Scapegoat." Listen to it below and you'll see why! Then go get the album, which you can also stream, over at www.mattstevensguitar.com/

Playlist: October

In 2011, St. Vincent became the patron saint of avant-garde indie pop. To my ears, St. Vincent's Strange Mercy is one of the year's very best records. (It's on the 4AD label and it was produced by John Congleton, who produced Shearwater's The Golden Archipelago.) As you may know, St. Vincent is the nom de plume of 29-year-old singer-songwriter Annie Clark. This is her third album of strange art-rock and memorable melodies. She can pen a great pop tune—the third song on her album, "Cheerleader," is one of the best choruses you'll hear all year—and yet subvert it with an unsettling lyric and an unusual arrangement.

Her demure prettiness masks an off-center dark side. In the video for the lead single from the album, "Cruel" (which sounds like Abba on acid) Clark portrays a woman who is kidnapped by an ordinary looking family. The kidnapper and his young son and daughter dress her up as a suburban housewife and make her play the role of a mother figure as they subject her to unimaginable acts of cruelty. At the end of the video, they bury her alive in a grave.

The album opener, "Chloe in the Afternoon," references the Eric Rohmer film of the same name about a married man's illicit affair. The song's slinky and sensual chorus sits at odds with the abrasive guitar of the verses. Unlike the titular character of the film, this Chloe likes to incorporate a "black lacquered horse-hair whip" in her foreplay. In other words, you're not going to hear an X Factor contestant cover this one anytime soon.

There's also a song called "Surgeon" which starts off with the suggestive lyric, "I spent the summer on my back" but soon takes a darker turn as she sings, "I need a surgeon/to come cut me open." She sings that line and over and over again as if she's in the throes of ecstasy. The effect is at once unsettling and thrilling at the same time. It's a killer tune. The whole album is full of them.

Oh, and St. Vincent demolishes the myth that girls can't play guitar. Check out this live-in-the-studio version of "Surgeon" (above) and marvel at her finger gymnastics on the fretboard. (You can watch the full live session, consisting of four songs, here.)

This is St. Vincent's third album and it's her breakout. To quote one of her songs, "it's gonna be a champagne year" for her.

I've been on a major The Waterboys kick this month. The band's seminal single, "The Whole of the Moon," was one of the first 7" singles I ever bought. I've been a fan ever since and own just about everything that the band's principal singer-songwriter, Mike Scott, has ever done. When I interviewed Mike Scott a decade ago, it was a most delightful experience. The Scotsman was warm and enthusiastic, talking about his love of Oprah and his spiritual outlook on life.

Though The Waterboys remain a great live act, I had come to believe that their studio albums would never scale the heights of albums such as A Pagan Place, This is the Sea, Fisherman's Blues and Dream Harder. The band's 2000 album, A Rock in a Weary Land, felt strained and clunky even though its title track is one of the band's very best songs. Book of Lightning (2007) had its charms but it, too, was far from the band's glory days. All of which made the band's new album, An Appointment with Mr. Yeats, a revelation. It's the band's best work since 1993's Dream Harder.

For An Appointment with Mr. Yeats Mike Scott has set the poetry of W.B. Yeats to music. It's not the first time that Scott—a fine poet in his own right—has created a musical adaptation of a Yeats poem. The band's classic 1988 album, Fisherman's Blues, includes Yeats's "A Stolen Child" and Dream Harder includes "Love and Death."



An Appointment with Mr. Yeats sees The Waterboys return to "the big music" they created on their first three albums. Large canvas stuff with heavenward singing. That's apparent from the get go with the epic opener, "The Hosting of the Shee" and "A Full Moon in March." But even though this rock music draws on instrumentation such as oboe, trombone, flute, sax and strings, this is no retread of the band's old 1980s sound. It's a fresh iteration of the big music. Key to the band's sound is longtime fiddle player Steve Wickham who first appeared on Fisherman's Blues. Here, Wickham adds lyrical notes to songs such as "Sweet Dancer," ethereal lead lines to songs such as "The Lake of Innisfree" and torrid soloing on the album highlight "Land of the Mist and Snow."



Mike Scott sounds rejuvenated throughout the album. He's seldom sounded as soulful as he does on "Song of the Wandering Aengus" and "Let the Earth Bear Witness."

I've been so enthralled with the record that I've revisited most of the band's back catalog. I was pleasantly surprised by the band's 2003 record Universal Hall. I didn't take to the album upon its release and had only listened to it once. It's a largely acoustic record and my impression of it at the time was that it was rather dull. How wrong I was. Upon revisiting Universal Hall all these years later, I heard it with new ears. It's a quiet album, for the most part, that reward close listening. It also has far more textures and colors than I had remembered. The first half of the album is acoustic. The second half of the record includes the great electric-pulse rocker "See the Light" and "E.B.O.L." (Eternal Beam of Love) is The Waterboys at its finest.

Finally, I'd like to recommend you check out an Israeli songwriter named Liam Modlin. An old friend of mine named Brian Segal, a man of impeccable music taste, turned me on the Liam's talents—thanks Brian—and I can't wait for Liam to produce his first album. For a taste of what to expect, watch the great video to the song "Faceless" below.

Albums currently in rotation:

• I Break Horses—Hearts (2011)
• Lantern of the Lakes—Lantern of the Lakes (2011)
• The Waterboys—An Appointment with Mr. Yeats (2011), Universal Hall (2003), Dream Harder (1993), A Pagan Place (1983).
• Robbie Robertson—How to Become Clairvoyant (2011), Music for the Native Americans (1994), Contact from the Underground of Red Boy (1998)
• Rory Gallagher—Irish Tour '74 (1974)
• Chris Isaak—Beyond the Sun (2011) 
• Pearl Jam—Backspacer (2009)
• Feist—Metals (2011)
• Levin Torn White—Levin Torn White (2011)
• Björk—Biophilia (2011)
• Riverside—Second Life Syndrome (2005)
• Evanescence—Evanescence (2011)

Songs + EPs currently in rotation:

• Pearl Jam—Olé (2011)
• Steven Wilson—Postcard EP (2011)
• Liam Modlin—Faceless (2011)

Playlist: September

Albums currently in rotation:

• The Pajama Party—Pajama Party (2011)
• Laura Marling—A Creature I Don't Know (2011)
• Trentemøller—Reworked/Remixed (2011)
• St. Vincent—Strange Mercy (2011)
• David Sylvian—Approaching Silence (1999)
• Big Wreck—In Loving Memory Of (1997)
• Taj Mahal—Taj Mahal's Blues (1992)
• Bonobo—Black Sands (2010)
• Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara—In Trance (2011)
• I Break Horses—Hearts (2011)
• Chickenfoot—Chickenfoot III (2011)
• Future Sound of London—Lifeforms (1994)
• Feist—Let It Die (2004), The Reminder (2007)
• Joe Bonamassa & Beth Hart—Don't Explain (2011)
• Jon Hopkins & King Creosote—Diamond Mine (2011)
• Opeth—Heritage (2011)
• Gary Moore—Live at Montreux 2010 (2011)
• Spotlight, Floodlight—Nocturne (2011)
• King Crimson—In the Wake of Poseidon (1970), Lizard (1970), Islands (1971), Red (1974)
  

To quote a Marillion lyric, I'm feeling globally altered and disheveled. I've just returned from South Africa (the reason why there was no playlist posted for August), so I'm now trying to readjust to Pacific Time. As if that was disorienting enough, I am listening to Carole King's upcoming holiday album because I am interviewing her for an airline magazine. Lemme tell you, it's awfully strange to hear Christmas music in September.

My ears have been spoiled of late. As you'll see from the list above, I've been listening to my typically varied diet, including indie rock, blues, classic rock, world music, metal, folk, electronica, and progressive rock. Let me tell you a bit more about some of the albums I've listed above.

In heavy rotation in these parts: Steven Wilson's new album. It's the second solo album by the British songwriter, best known as the songwriter-singer-guitarist-producer of Porcupine Tree. Among his many extracurricular pursuits are long-running projects such as side projects such as No-Man (art rock), Bass Communion (ambient electronica), I.E.M. (Krautrock) and Blackfield (indie pop rock). I awed that one individual can be so prolific and diverse and yet produce such a consistently high caliber of songcraft and artistic innovation. He's an extremely rare and special talent.

I recently interviewed Wilson about his new solo album, Grace for Drowning, a double album that encompasses whole ecosystems of music. Which is to say that Wilson has once again incorporated his wide-ranging musical loves and filtered them to create something far more ambitious than most records. Grace for Drowning marks new territory for Wilson since it is unabashedly inspired by early progressive rock. That style of music has long been a primary influence on Wilson, of course, but Wilson's work on remastering the King Crimson back catalog (which I've been enjoying these past few months) made him realize what a key element jazz was to nascent progressive rock. But modern-day progressive bands have largely neglected the jazz element which Wilson says was often the spiritual heart of those 1970s bands. Wilson has emulated the approach of Robert Fripp on the King Crimson albums Lizard and Islands—recruit a bunch of jazz musicians and place them in a rock context.

Fripp was at the London listening session for Grace for Drowning. I'm told that he had a huge smile throughout the playback and was tapping his foot the entire time. Afterward, Fripp claimed not to hear any King Crimson influence at all...which seems disingenuous! The touchstones of Lizard, Islands and Red are all over Grace for Drowning. You can hear Crimon-esque slabs of monolithic doom-y chords on jazz-rock tracks such as "Sectarian" and "Remainder the Black Dog" (which you can download for free at www.gracefordrowning.com) and the 23-minute long "Raider II," a track with more endings than the last Lord of the Rings movie!



A lot of the album almost sounds like the score to a movie and I love that aspect of it. Indeed, the final three minutes of "Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye" is stunning. It's mixed so quietly that you have to lean in close to the speakers and really pay attention. The unsettling choral work of "Raider Prelude" sounds like something off the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey. And Belle De Jour could have slotted onto the soundtrack to The Dear Hunter.

"No Part of Me" and "Index" (see video, below) showcase Wilson's electronica instincts. Indeed, the sublime "No Part of Me" begins as a gorgeous electronica sigh (with shades of Autechre) and then, midway through, suddenly plunges off a musical cliff into a riffing guitars section with middle-eastern sax courtesy of Theo Travis. It's fantastic.



A few other observations: I love the Steely Dan-ish piano on "Deform to Form a Star"... Though this is not a guitar-oriented album, Wilson plays killer melodic guitar solos on "Deform to Form a Star" and "Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye" and "Track One"...the album has some surprisingly joyful and upbeat music on it!

A related album is Opeth's Heritage, which was mixed by Wilson. I've long been a fan of the Swedish death metal band who, unlike most bands of that genre, have musically adventurous instincts and a keen grasp of melody. Heritage is a radical change of direction for Opeth. They've completely ditched the metal sound and the cookie-monster vocals of previous releases. I sure won't miss the unintelligible roars as I've always preferred the clean singing of frontman-guitarist-songwriter Mikael Akerfeldt, who has a beautiful voice. Heritage bears the hallmarks of early '70s progressive rock. Lots of mellotron, finger-picked acoustic guitar, David Gilmour-esque guitar and even flutes!



It's a natural progression for the band which has explored progressive sounds ever since Steven Wilson produced their seminal album Blackwater Park. And if you enjoy Heritage, take a listen to their earlier album Damnation—another Wilson production—a rather mellow album of classic rock sounds and without any metal or cookie-monster vocals. If you're feeling adventurous, and can stomach some heavier stuff, I also recommend Opeth's Ghost Reveries.

A new discovery for me: Spotlight, Floodlight whose debut album, Nocturne, consists of eerily beautiful instrumentals that will trigger mindscape dreams if you listen to it in the dark.

I first became aware of Spotlight, Floodlight when my friend Andy Saks sent me their beautifully forlorn version Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street." The cover version, which you can download for free here, features vocalist Rob Dickinson from the seminal British shoegaze band Catherine Wheel.

Clearly, this was a band to watch. Well, not so much a band as an artist. Spotlight, Floodlight is a project by LA-based composer Peter Adams who has worked with a number of well-known artists, including the likes of Michael Penn, Tears for Fears, Juliana Hatfield, Richard Thompson and Rickie Lee Jones. On this album, Adams supplements his piano and keyboards with the help of several percussionists, bass players, a cellist and a violinist and cooing vocals courtesy of Amy Seeley.

Just as the title suggests, Nocturne is music for the curfew hours. The album cover, an evocative cover photograph of a wolf in a dark forest, perfectly sets the mood for the music. The consistently lovely melodies, led by stark piano and twinkling Fender Rhodes, often sound like lilting lullabies but there's often an ominous undercurrent that provides delicious tension to tracks such as "Pi" and "Of Itself So." The sound of mildly distressed murmuring human voices on "Trees" and "An Autobiography" makes one imagine there are ghosts in the recording machine. Nocturne utilizes space and minimalism to allow the organic instrumentation to breath on tracks such as "Beauty Lamented."

If you're a fan of Richard Barbieri or Talk Talk or, indeed, Erik Satie, you'll love this record.

You can hear all the tracks as well as purchase a digital download or CD on the Spotlight, Floodlight website. Peter Adams is playing a solo show at Room 5 in LA on October 18. You can also catch him as the keyboard player for John Oates (of Hall & Oates).

If you haven't already, check out Neil Finn's new side project, The Pajama Club, by downloading the two free songs from their website: http://www.pajamaclubmusic.com/ "From a Friend to a Friend" (featuring Johnny Marr on guitar) is particularly good and a pleasing departure in sound from the songwriting genius of Crowded House. I've included the video at the very top of this blog entry.

I've also been enjoying an advance copy of a 2-disc compilation of Trentemøller's remixes of Thom Yorke, UNKLE, Efterklang, Depeche Mode, Mew. Great stuff by the Danish electronic music producer and multi-instrumentalist.



This month saw the first posthumous release by my all-time favorite guitarist, Gary Moore. The album (and DVD), Live at Montreux 2010, is a document of Gary's final tour during which he returned to the sound of celtic-rock. He had been working on a new album in the style of Wild Frontier and Thin Lizzy's Black Rose at the time. Sadly, that album never got beyond the demo phase but three of the new songs intended for that album were included in the setlist of the final tour and they're included on the live album. They're all very good, especially one called "Days of Heroes," and I'm glad that they have seen the light of day. The video for one of the new songs, "Oh Wild One," is above.

The setlist, largely drawn from Gary's late 1980s albums, concludes with a stunning rendition of his most beloved song, "Parisienne Walkways." I have dozens of recordings of this track, a top 10 hit in the UK in 1979, and I never cease to be amazed how Gary never played the long guitar outro the same way twice. A testament to his brilliance.



Finally, a big thanks to my dear friend Simon Gort for a recent package of albums including King Creosote + Jon Hopkins, The Future Sound of London, Dutch Uncles, Bonobo, David Sylvian, and Justin Adams/Juldeh Camara. Simon and I share very similar music tastes and I am indebted to him for introducing me to so many great bands and artists over the past 20 years. Follow him on Twitter at @sgort100 for great recommendations of music you really need to hear!

Playlist: July

The onset of summer—my favorite season—here in West Hollywood has influenced my listening this month. For starters, I've been enjoying Washed Out's Within & Without (it boasts one of the best album covers I've seen in a while, see above). The brand new album, which has been widely acclaimed, sometimes sounds like a lush, electronica version of Low. Its "bedroom auteur" creator, Ernest Greene, has been saddled with the genre tag of Chillwave. (Because that's what us music journalists do: We sit around and think up ridiculous new genre labels all day like, say, Nü-Dreamgaze.) But all that matters is that Washed Out's blissful electronica is cool balm for a hot day.

In addition to Washed Out, I've been seeking out other albums and songs that feel summer-y to my ears. Perfect summer songs include Porcupine Tree's "Time Flies" and No-Man's "Days in the Trees." Both songs, penned by Steven Wilson, offer nostalgic recollections of the seemingly infinite summers of childhood. (Watch the music video of heavily abridged single version of "Time Flies," below.)



So, what, exactly, constitutes a great summer song or album? Sometimes a summer song is that which feels light, folky, and as laid-back as a sultry siesta. (That would explain why I've been craving some J.J. Cale of late.) At other times, one wants a kick-ass rock song ideal for jamming while you drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu. (Red Hot Chili Peppers ticks those boxes.)

Other records have a summer-y feel. Pink Floyd's Meddle takes me to "Saint Tropez" on a "Pillow of Winds." Laura Viers' wonderful July Flame album boasts tracks such as the exultant "Summer is the Champion" as well as its catchy title track (see video, below). And Led Zeppelin reminds us that Dancing Days are here again on Houses of the Holy.

One album, in particular, stands out as a great summer listen. The second disc of Kate Bush's masterpiece, Aerial, is a conceptual piece that depicts one summer's day. It starts with the birdsong of early sunny morning, passes through a fleeting midday thunderstorm, basks in an a honeycomb sunset, and ends with a song about swimming late at night. Seek it out!

ALBUMS

Summer-y albums in rotation:

• Washed Out—Within and Without (2011)
• Gary Moore—Dark Days in Paradise (1997)
  
• J.J. Cale—J.J. Cale Live (2001)
  
• Porcupine Tree—Lightbulb Sun (1997)
  
• Calexico—Carried to Dust (2008)
• Tame Impala—Innerspeaker (2010)
• Joni Mitchell—Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975)
• Stone Temple Pilots—Thank You (2003)
• The Amazing—The Amazing (2009)
• Laura Veirs—July Flame (2009)
  
• Pink Floyd—Meddle (1971)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers—Stadium Arcadium (2006)
• Led Zeppelin—Houses of the Holy (1973)

Other albums in rotation:

• Gavin Harrison and 05ric—Circles (2009)
  
• Warren Haynes—Man in Motion (2011)
  
• Henrik Freischlader—Still Frame Replay (2011)
  
• Marillion—Live at Cadogan Hall (2011)
  
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds—The Boatman's Call (1997)
  
• Eric Clapton—Crossroads, disc 3 (1988)
  
• John Hammond (Jr.)—Push Comes to Shove (2009)

Playlist: June

Before I get to my June playlist, I thought I'd share my take on the new (well, sorta new) album by Kate Bush. There are many female artists that I worship and adore, most notably Björk, Jesca Hoop, PJ Harvey, Joni Mitchell, and Toni Childs. But Kate Bush is my absolute favorite. A new release by Kate is a rare event. Her previous album was 2005's masterpiece, Aerial, which arrived 12 years after The Red Shoes. On the bright side, at least she's more prolific than Harper Lee.

Director's Cut, consists of a series of revamped, remastered, rearranged and re-recorded songs from two of her older albums. Director's Cut consists of remakes of four cuts from 1989's The Sensual World (which, to me, is perfect as it already is) and seven reworked tracks from 1993's The Red Shoes, a problematic album. Most of the songs retain the original instrumentation, but three of them have been wholly re-recorded from scratch. All the drums have been re-recorded by master session player Steve Gadd and Kate has recorded new vocals for each song, albeit in a lower key to suit her current vocal range.

Going back to redo these old songs is a curious step for a progressive musician such as Kate, but not an entirely unprecedented one: She re-recorded the vocal on "Wuthering Heights" for her greatest hits album. She's clearly had profound regrets about The Red Shoes (didn't we all?) and perhaps she needed to redress the past in order to move on to create new work. (Her new album is likely to emerge in 2012...but, trust me, you don't want to make a bet with a bookie on that.)

Here's the breakdown of Director's Cut. The remakes of the songs from the Red Shoes are, with the exception of "Rubberband Girl," vast improvements on the originals. But of the songs taken from The Sensual World, only one of the four tracks surpasses the original.

The bad:

"Flower of the Mountain" seems oddly flat compared to its predecessor and Kate's vocal seems to lack the pent-up erotic fervor of "The Sensual World." Even so, I can't help but swoon a bit when Kate moans, "Yes." She tends to have that effect on men!

"Deeper Understanding" was always the weakest song on The Sensual World and, unfortunately, she's added god awful auto tune effects to the remake. A pity because the verses and extended coda are lovely.

"Never Be Mine" is a big favorite from The Sensual World and although I do like this new version—particularly the guitar bit added to the chorus—I prefer the raw anguish of the original (especially the wail of "This is what I want..." that is omitted in the remake). The new vocal, by contrast, seems more wearily resigned to the fate of losing a lover. It's a strong alternative version but doesn't surpass the original.

"And So Is Love" is superior to its original version but it's still not all that great a song...

The Rolling Stones-style "Rubberband Girl" is fun novelty, but it's still a throwaway cut and no match for the original. In an interview with MOJO, Kate admitted she hadn't originally intended to include it on Director's Cut.

The good:

The best parts of Director's Cut are tremendous. Who'd have thought Kate could top the original version of "This Woman's Work"? She not only offers a more emotional vocal, imbued with the wisdom of age, but she recasts the tune as a gorgeous ambient piece with twinkles of Fender Rhodes keyboard.

"Moments of Pleasure," originally overwrought and Baroque, comes alive in its stripped-down, re-recorded, and tunefully altered version. It reminds me a little of Aerial's "The Coral Room," one of the most emotionally raw vocal performances ever recorded and one of the very rare songs that can make me tear up. This song now almost feels as if Kate was writing her last-ever song as a look back on her life and as a farewell to her loved ones. A final chance to sum up all she ever wanted to say. (Another song that sounds like a final Will and Testament is the affecting title track of Joni Mitchell's most recent album, Shine. Do seek that one out.) The final two lines of the song are unbearably sad. When she sings, "Hey there Michael, did you really love me...did you really love me?" you'll become unmoored. It's yet another example of how Kate is surely the most emotionally expressive female singer around.

I've always loved "The Red Shoes" but this new version easily surpasses the original and Kate's whirling dervish vocal ("Whoop, whoop!") is so good. The dynamics of this stomping folk rock remind me of Led Zeppelin's "Gallows Pole." Play this loud. You may end up dancing a jig in your living room.

I love the sudden swell of the chorus in "Top of the City." It feels as like a geyser of sound bursting free. She tried to attain that effect on the original, of course, but couldn't pull it off like she does here.

"Song of Solomon" suddenly reveals itself in a whole new way. "Lily" is also profound in its new, funkier version and it has a real edge and urgency, particularly when Kate cuts loose at the end.

I purchased the special edition of Director's Cut, which is beautifully packaged in a hardcover and includes two bonus discs: The Sensual World (unaltered) and a remaster of The Red Shoes. The original was a digital remaster. Kate discovered an analog remaster and the album sounds markedly better than the original—far more definition and I can hear individual elements that I didn't notice on the original. The album has also been subtly changed on this edition. "Eat the Music" is shorter now and "Big Stripey Lie" has been shorn on the violins.

I'm pretty enthralled with Director's Cut overall. (For best effect, take a listen to it on headphones.) Despite its serious flaws, the best parts of Director's Cut reaffirm why I love Kate so much....

I'm still listening to many of the same albums of the past few months (see earlier playlists, below), but here's what else I've been listening to over the past month which, oddly, has been dominated by classic rock!

ALBUMS

• The entire Gary Moore catalog, in chronological order
• Kate Bush—Director's Cut (2011)
• Bon Iver—Bon Iver (2011)
• Black Country Communion—Black Country Communion 2 (2011)
• Robbie Robertson—How to Become Clairvoyant (2011)
• Adele—21 (2011)
• Alison Krauss & Union Station—Paper Airplane (2011)
• John Hammond—Push to Shove (2007)
• YES—Fly from Here (2011)
• Coldplay—Every Teardrop is a Waterfall EP (2011)
• Laura Veirs—July Flame (2009)
  

SONGS

• Radiohead—Staircase (2011)
• Eddie Vedder—Can't Keep; Longing to Belong (2011)
• Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi—Two Against One (feat. Jack White) (2011)
• The Pajama Club (Neil Finn's new band; follow link to free download)—From a Friend to a Friend (2011)
• Pallers—Come Rain, Come Sunshine (2011)
• Rival Sons—Pressure and Time (2011) See video, below