And so to the biggest disappointment since I started this blog.....
John Grant's debut album Queen of Denmark has to be of my top twenty albums of all time but the follow up Pale Green Ghosts won't get many repeat plays
Queen of Denmark was full of lush strings and the band Midlake lending warmth and feeling to some very witty and biting lyrics, whereas on the follow up Mr Grant has relocated to Iceland and gone electronica.
The cold backing has no soul and makes the lyrics feel like the self pitying whining of a man who feels the world is against him. Tracks such as Why Don't You Love Me Anymore and Sensitive New Age Guy don't bear listening to more than once.
A couple of redeeming songs can be found, the 7 min plus Glacier is the closest in feel to the stellar debut track I Wanna Go to Marz - all grand piano and orchestration. GMF is lyrically brilliant where John Grant explains in detail why he is the greatest mother f**ker you will ever meet.
And that song may well explain why this albums fails so spectacularly
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Friday 17 May 2013
I blame the Prog magazine but a couple of reviews of really obscure stuff piqued my interest....
Silver Pyre are a one man band from somewhere in the South west and the album AeXe is a peculiar little thing. There is a lot of electronica going on with just a touch of hippies dancing on ley lines about it. Half the songs clock in over 6 minutes but not overstaying their welcome. The vocals are very simple, no attempt to hit difficult notes and not designed to distract from the music.
The near instrumental opener Copper Findings draws you in with some very unusual percussion and rhythms while Calendar is a really weird tale of Mayan, Julian and Roman calendars spoken in an atonal manner over a stately beat created on some sort of xylophone
A very unusual album which is worth a listen in a darkened room sometime
Whereas Silver Pyre is a one man band Then Comes Silence are a mystery band who won't confirm whose in the band !
A Swedish band who have obviously listened to far too much early Joy Division and Bauhaus. This self titled debut album is very retro. Song titles like To the Bone (We are Doomed) and Death by a Frozen Heart tell you all you need to know about how this sounds. Some great crashing guitar and vocals to make Ian Curtis proud
This is old school goth for those in long leather coats and an aversion to daylight
Silver Pyre are a one man band from somewhere in the South west and the album AeXe is a peculiar little thing. There is a lot of electronica going on with just a touch of hippies dancing on ley lines about it. Half the songs clock in over 6 minutes but not overstaying their welcome. The vocals are very simple, no attempt to hit difficult notes and not designed to distract from the music.
The near instrumental opener Copper Findings draws you in with some very unusual percussion and rhythms while Calendar is a really weird tale of Mayan, Julian and Roman calendars spoken in an atonal manner over a stately beat created on some sort of xylophone
A very unusual album which is worth a listen in a darkened room sometime
Whereas Silver Pyre is a one man band Then Comes Silence are a mystery band who won't confirm whose in the band !
A Swedish band who have obviously listened to far too much early Joy Division and Bauhaus. This self titled debut album is very retro. Song titles like To the Bone (We are Doomed) and Death by a Frozen Heart tell you all you need to know about how this sounds. Some great crashing guitar and vocals to make Ian Curtis proud
This is old school goth for those in long leather coats and an aversion to daylight
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