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)
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)
Of late, I've been drastically paring back my journalism to concentrate on writing my first novel, a literary thriller (doesn't that sound pretentious!) However, I do have a couple of reviews in the brand new issue of Under the Radar.
The magazine, which is the best publication for underground and indie music, has just released its first Music Vs. Comedy issue and it features crossover interviews between the likes of The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and David Cross, Patton Oswalt and St. Vincent, Modern Family's Ty Burrell and Loney Dear, and Aziz Ansari (pictured on the cover, above) interviewing Toro Y Moi and TV on the Radio. And you'll want to read the magazine's interview with the adorable Ellie Kemper (The Office, Bridesmaids). At one point, Kemper quips, "I ended up majoring in English, which I'm not particularly fluent in."
This week, the British band Elbow released its fifth album, build a rocket boys!, and, like its predecessors, it's a special record. (Never heard them before? Take a listen to this live-in-the-studio version of the new track "Lippy Kids" above. It's a great showcase for the voice of Guy Garvey, one of England's most soulful singers.)
For starters, the epic opener, "The Birds," is one of the best things they've ever done. I also love the single, "Neat Little Rows." There's a delightful whimsical pop song called "With Love" that is mainly built on the interview and interplay of multiple vocalists and features the Hallé Youth Orchestra.
Throughout the album there are some fabulous cascading guitar and piano riffs and motifs, like on "High Ideals." A few songs in the middle stretch -- “The Night Will Always Win,” “The River,” and “Jesus was a Rochdale Girl” -- are growers. The closing track, "Dear Friends," is a beaut. Classic Elbow.
In addition to my interview with Guy Garvey in the current issue of Under the Radar (see below), I also did a separate piece using leftover material from the interview for the magazine's website, which you can read here.
The latest issue of Under the Radar, America's best magazine for indie music and underground artists, is now on newsstands. I interviewed Elbow's Guy Garvey for the issue.
In addition to feature stories on Iron & Wine, R.E.M., Lykke Li, The Decemberists and Death Cab for Cutie, the issue also includes interviews with promising newcomers such as Anna Calvi and Porcelain Raft. Check it out!
The entire Gary Moore catalog, in chronological order
PJ Harvey—Let England Shake
Radiohead — The King of Limbs
Tame Impala—Innerspeaker
John Hiatt—Bring the Family
Paul Simon—So Beautiful or So What
Shearwater—Enron
The Czars—Ugly People vs. Beautiful People
Greg Allman—Low Country Blues
The Black Keys—Brothers
David Sylvian—Gone to Earth
Low—I Could Live in Hope
Dennis Wilson—Pacific Ocean Blue
Vertical Horizon—Burning the Days
Susumu Yokota—Kaleidoscope
Iron & Wine—Kiss Each Other Clean
YES—Union Live
Robert Wyatt—Schleep
05ric—Bubbleburst EP
A few words about some of the albums...
It's only February but there won't be many better albums than PJ HARVEY'sLet England Shake in 2011. Musically, the album picks up where White Chalk left off -- PJ once again sings mostly in a high register rather than in her low-end voice -- but this record adds more vibrant textures and brighter colors. One or two songs, such as "Written on the Forehead," almost sound Cocteau Twins-ish. Beautiful melodies from start to finish.
It's a concept album about the toll of war on England and its identity. For this record, Polly Jean wrote all the lyrics before she wrote a note of music and so its full of startling imagery. On "All and Everyone," a song about the battle of Gallipoli, for instance, she sings:
Death Hung in the smoke and clung to 400 acres of useless beachfront now, and now, and now. Death was everywhere, in the air and in the sounds coming off the mounds of Bolton's Ridge. Death's anchorage. Death was in the staring sun, fixing its eyes on everyone. It rattled the bones of the Light Horsemen still lying out there in the open
Simply, it's her best work and a consistently exhilarating listen.
I'm very excited by TAME IMPALA, a new psych-prog band from Australia. Strong melodies and immense grooves. They're just about the only band in the world who can claim to have been interviewed by Classic Rock Presents Prog as well as Under the Radar, an indie music magazine I write for.
The new RADIOHEAD album isn't a top-tier album like The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, andIn Rainbows. It lacks the grandeur, thrust, and ambition of those albums. The King of Limbs feels like a lesser work but it is nevertheless a more cohesive album than Hail to the Thief and Amnesiac. These 8 new tracks are beautiful. In fact, this record arguably boasts Thom Yorke's best vocal performances to date. As with any Radiohead record, it's richly textured and demands attentive listening.
PAUL SIMON's last album, Surprise (produced by Brian Eno), boasted one or two cracking tunes, but his new album, So Beautiful or So What (out in April), is his best since Graceland. Once again, he has included African influences in these acoustic-based songs but they're West African sounds such as the kora rather than South African township pop. On this record he reminds me what a great lyricist he is, creating deft character sketches and offering wry wit throughout. It is odd, though, to hear him reference Jay Z!
I am hugely enjoying GREGG ALLMAN's new solo record, Low Country Blues (Rounder). I've had zero expectations beforehand but it's been on constant rotation in this household these past few days.
It's a pure blues album produced by T Bone Burnett (yes, him again) and, apart from one new song co-written by Greg and Warren Haynes, the album consists of cover versions by the likes of Muddy Waters, BB King, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Skip James and Magic Sam. The production style is richly atmospheric. T Bone's regular go-to players, drummer Jay Bellerose and bassist Dennis Crouch (both of whom you may have heard on albums such as Plant & Krauss' Raising Sand and Sahara Smith's Myth of the Heart) provide rich texture and finger-clicking swing in the rhythm department. and T Bone Burnett swaps guitar licks with Doyle Bramhall II. There's even horns on one or two tracks. And the in-house pianist on the record is one Mac Rebennack. Indeed, Dr. John lays down an amazingly catchy, yet subtle, piano riff on the final track, "Rolling Stone."
Gregg's voice still sounds wonderfully soulful despite the fact that his vocal chords have probably been marinated in Jack Daniels these past few decades! While the album does feature some of Gregg's signature B3 organ licks, the record sounds nothing like an Allman Bros. album. It's very much its own sound.
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.
