"Half Seas Over, Wild Nothing, Beach House, William Brittelle: the year that was"

I'm charging unashamedly at the 'Top 10 of 2010' theme that's predictably all over the net around the new year. But never mind. This little bloggington has thrown in its two cents and now it's throwing in those of an esteemed colleague. Ahoy!

Not to blow our own trumpets or anything- and pretend for one minute that we are authoritative- but hopefully some of you friends, and people who have strayed one google page too far (12,682) will stumble upon a track or two, enjoy it and go and search for some more. And, it's for THIS mind to wonder whether that hypotethical scenario has come true, and take comfort in the thought regardless...

TOP 10 of 2010

1. White Hinterland Kairos
The perfect summer montage album. Put this on when it gets warm again and you're lazing around in the sun.

White Hinterland- Icarus

2. William Brittelle Television Landscape
This album seeks to challenge what you know about music. It is one hell of a crazy journey through an enormous soundscape. It's one of those albums you could listen to for years and hear something new in the mix each time.

3. Hans Zimmer Inception
The soundtrack to what is probably my (editorial: 'his') favourite film of all time. There aren't many soundtracks that can stand alone from a film and still amaze me. This is one of them. Definitely Hans Zimmer's best work.

4. Beach House Teen Dream
A dreamy and eloquent third album from Beach House that has earned them thoroughly deserved critical plaudits in 2010. Best enjoyed on the train home after a night out.

Beach House- Norway

5. She & Him Volume 2
The second instalment from actress Zooey Deschanel and musician M Ward. Great songwriting combined with catchy vocal hooks makes this album one of my instant favourites.

She & Him- Home

6. Glasser Ring
If you like harmonies and beautiful voices then this one is for you. As soon as the echoes kick in on "Home" you'll be sold. (See below for full post)

7. Bonobo Black Sands
A great instrumental album that I'm sure made many people's top 10 lists this year. Certainly recommended if you're a Zero 7 listener, but again, like Beach House's Teen Dream, an excellent travelling album too.

8. Stornoway Beachcomber's Windowsill
Legitimately one to sing along to. Either turn off or enjoy the great lyrics. "The End of The Movie"? Goosebump inducing.

9. Wild Nothing Gemini
Wild Nothing featured prominently on Top 10 lists elsewhere, but of course cannot be fully recognised as such (and as a 'one to watch') until featued here. This album reminds me of early 90s indie pop. Similarly if you're a fan of The Smiths you'll love it.

Wild Nothing- Chinatown

10. Half Seas Over Half Seas Over
Singer-songwriter Adam McBride-Smith teams up with pianist Elan Mehler to create a jazz/folk album that brilliantly fuses the two and suggests McBride just might be the next James Taylor. Remember, you heard it here first...

Half Seas Over- Sad Mona

STARTING AT 2010.

In the age of the fractured music audience, it only seems fair that this be a list of albums I discovered in 2010 rather than those that came out in 2010. With almost all music standardised, accessible and instantly available, time has flattened. We just have now an astounding catalogue of sound that has quietly crept up on us and presented, to be explored via the internet (and hopefully bought too).

The 10 in this list illustrate that very point in my view, coming from different eras and genres, even the oldest/most obscure of which- Al Wilson’s Show and Tell is really just a type away. It’s filed below Al Green and above All American Rejects. Sleigh Bells’ Treats is conversely probably the ‘biggest’ album on the list. Like La Roux, Bombay Bicycle Club or Phoenix, they have steadily but quietly built an imposing profile (here in Britain), spearheading this year’s output of blogosphere headline-making pure indie. By comparison, James Blake is perhaps at an earlier stage of his germination into the popular zeitgeist, and it remains to be seen where he will go. CMYK and Klavierwerke EPs were two defining records of 2010: they sat on the dance counter at Rough Trade in Shoreditch and very soon trickled away. They spawned an ambush of the Radio 1 playlist, shows and the announcement of his first long-play, due in 2011. A young, promising and exciting artist making music in a great era of creativity and musical dialogue, his success next year might be a further measure of the potential the online music world has granted artists to cross boundaries and escape genres or musical and geographic scenes. Musically, James Blake and How to Dress Well, as well as many other artists on both sides of the Atlantic show that past, present, dance, hip-hop, pop, R&B, dubstep, dub, dancehall, electronic and organic instrument-led music can be seamlessly brought together. Mount Kimbie's Crooks & Lovers is another such example, and the remaining album on the list released in 2010.

The #1 in the list is DJ Jazzy Jeff’s second solo effort The Return of the Magnificent, which I think-although I don’t know- passed unnoticed on the US R&B charts, as well as here. The star who is so often (hell, always) obscured by his lankier former co-artist deserves not just commercial and critical recognition beyond his 90s pop smashes with Will Smith, I think, but a profile that matches the best R&B and hip-hop artists of the post-millennium. When I first heard ‘Come On’ from the album covered here, it was immediately up there with 2Pac’s ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ in my mind, and has not yet come down. The druggy chill of ‘The Garden’ and summer strut of ‘The Definition’ sound like they deliver exactly what Jeff wanted from them- a perfect, focused flow of open-top car radio goodness that lasts through the initial high, out into the open road and into half-asleep in the back chill out in a hefty 78 minutes. The other hip-hop album on my menu is Jurassic 5’s self-titled LP. Yes, I know- this is firstly a classic that perhaps shouldn’t be on the list (not least because I should have discovered it sooner), but it’s fresh to me so it stays. ‘Concrete Schoolyard’, ‘Improvise’, ‘Without A Doubt’, ‘Lesson 6’: of course some of the most awesome sounds of the rap underground, splicing drum fills, Cut Chemist’s crazy public information samples and turntables that sound like flutes…or the other way round.

Turning to some other random choices, White Denim have been referred to previously on this blog and is one artist that you could be sure is the only in any list of the top 10 of 2010 that wasn’t meant to be in there. Last Day of Summer was in fact just an online-only update on how the band’s third LP is coming along. See below to download it.

With regard to Life of Leisure, that was for me, the album that led the tidal wave rushing towards our shores in late 2009 of American lo-fi indie. A dirge of sluggish, distant melody and synthesisers beating reluctantly, wearily, Washed Out captured the haziness of long, lazy hot days and bottled it. Best Coast, Summer Camp and others pushed similar buttons over the year, employing similar production techniques and pushing for their formulations of lethargic disconnection, but to me, no other finished product was as multi-layered or resonant. This has been an exciting year generally for lo-fi music, driven by many excellent blogs presenting excellent bands seemingly out of the blue. Although featuring on them, Bonobo’s Black Sands was brought to my attention by a friend, and from the first opening montage of soundscape I was hooked. (See below). That particular part of the album might have been a suitable soundtrack for the blockbuster of the year, Inception, with all its soaring strings and ominous undercurrent chanting brewing a dream-like world. However, as opposed to that created in Life of Leisure, it is one that brims with detail. That world makes the album: it fleshes it, informs it, gives it wings. You can soar over endless green hills and into tropical storms: an atmosphere so pertinent that music becomes just an accompaniment to imagination.

Lastly, I was glad to discover Talking Heads this year. The band’s big, consistent output has been rewarding and fun all round, and finally ‘clicked’ when I heard ‘Sugar on my Tongue’ from the album 77: a provocative, slightly disturbing test tube filled with either sex, anger, man, woman- some combination of everything with an angst plug and shaken.

So concludes. At a bit of a stretch and ramble, that was my top 10 of 2010. There was a lot of enjoy this year-a great deal- a huge deal- most of it unknown and untouched, inevitably leaving us all basking in little wee specks in contrast to the massive edifice. And to think that we sleep…

1. DJ Jazzy Jeff The Return of the Magnificent (2007)

DJ Jazzy Jeff- She Was So Flyy feat Kardinal Offishall
DJ Jazzy Jeff- Come On feat. Dave Ghetto

2. Bonobo Black Sands (2010)

3. White Denim Last Day of Summer (2010)

White Denim- Some Wild Going Outward

4. Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 LP (1998)

Jurassic 5- Concrete Schoolyard

5. Sleigh Bells Treats (2010)

6. James Blake CMYK/Klavierwerke (2010)

James Blake- Klavierwerke

7. Talking Heads Best Of (2004)

8. Washed Out Life of Leisure (2010)

Washed Out- Hold Out

9. Al Wilson Show & Tell (1973)

Al Wilson- Broken Home

10. Mount Kimbie Crooks & Lovers (2010)

Mount Kimbie- Before I Move Off

fantastic mr. fox aka Stephen Gomberg

It’s often tempting to ascribe James Blake’s unusual style of electro/dubstep to some label or name. But it would be limiting to do that, so I won’t- and I haven’t yet seen any blogs or reviewers bother. As enigmatic as some artists and their music are, a marketable genre-word has so far eluded Blake and a number of other producers, loosely brought together by boring unemotional analysis. The young and gifted Manchester producer, Fantastic Mr Fox (aka Stephen Gomberg) is one figure whose music compliments that emerging titan of British dubstep really well. Specifically, he shares the same love of hip-hop, which he puts to effect in different ways over this short but packed second EP, Evelyn, released on 2 x 12”. Fantastic Mr Fox spoke to The Guardian’s ‘New Band of the Day’ two weeks ago: “There might be 200 layers in a song- […]I take the samples from so many sources, and they get so messed up, you can’t tell in the end where they came from.” Like Blake, ultra-clipped split-second R&B samples are used to create either punchy or flat dance hooks. Evelyn is slowly gathering a similar exposure to CMYK and Kaleidoscopic, which led Blake beyond dubstep audiences and towards Radio 1 airplay. “James Blake and Pariah have declared him the future of everything”, commented Paul Lester in the article.

‘Evelyn’ leads the EP and perhaps in the most well-known track to emerge of the four, but for me, my favourite is ‘Fool Me’. It is exciting, sprinkled with handclaps in time to a sombre, washed out sample. It piles in everything: electro beats, dubstep rhythms and re-jigged R&B melodies for a song that’s both alienating and personal. Like Blake, he layers rich, lush snippets over cold, digital beats.

The capacity for modern technology to give musicians like Fantastic Mr Fox complete precision, choice and control with every split-second of song is clear on this EP. By finely dicing ingredients that no one previously thought to mix, and in such a choreographed way, Evelyn is a musically unintelligible but exciting blend of chilled out shavings.

Fantastic Mr Fox - Evelyn EP by Black Acre Records

fox in the snow

Here’s a little pick me up for the cold wintry weather. Fox were a British rock band that had some brief commercial success in the mid-70s, but so far as I can see are now known or remembered for very little.

This track ‘Yuli Yuli’ is off ‘Tails of Illusion’, released in 1975.

apple vs apples vs apple vs apple ends!

There doesn’t really need to be an excuse to talk about The Beatles but it’s worth having one anyway. With the full catalogue licensed for itunes and John Lennon’s solo material on Spotify for the first time ever, this can truly be said to be the week that the band went digital. The most coveted discography worldwide was the subject of over seven years of litigation until last Tuesday, when it finally drifted down the 320kbps river and into the expansive online sea, never to be seen again.

The periodic media, fan and industry probing which somehow went on for years- and led even the ever-indifferent Ringo Starr to suggest that he gave a little more than a shit about something; anything, (“particularly glad to no longer be asked” apparently) for once wasn’t asking anything, and out came the press release.
The Beatles sold 450,000 albums and 2 million individual songs in the first week, although perhaps more impressively, all 17 albums, which were released at once made the top 100 albums on itunes.

root of it all

The turbulent political climate in the US today reminds citizens of the battles fought over the Vietnam War, civil rights and social norms in the late 1960s. It was and remains a rich cultural stomping ground. When the divide between left and right hardens beyond a certain point, many artists still choose to up politics; they remember the way in which fundamentals of musical evolution in the 20th century were linked to politics- poverty, anti-war, black struggle- and they have various and vivid reference points from which to begin: “Bill Withers recorded this song at the end of the Vietnam War. As I record this now, America- the land of peace and prosperity is in the middle of two wars.” After Bill spoke to a young man who had served, he wrote ‘I Can’t Write Left-Handed’. Social consciousness is the central tenet in this part-heated, part-laid back collaboration between The Roots and John Legend, and yet, what seems so unusual about it, is how despite the above quote, it is pretty much isolated as an activist record by a high profile artist or artists. I mean really; you have to be daft not to figure out that this is a concept album- a clear, unambiguous plea for anti-war and liberal politics. “War is hell. It always has been and always will be.” ‘What this music is about- indeed why it was made, is so important to bear in mind. ‘Wake Up!’ is about America today; informed by it, holding up a mirror to it and making bold statements about it, with protest songs. It is something so alien to the chart today as political musicians- at most- aren’t putting their thoughts into their music, if considering it part of their modus at all. For The Roots and Legend then, big-selling commercial artists, the need for this to be a record that fans can take into their hearts just as much as any other, and enjoy- simply- ‘for the music’ is a naturally restraining force on the activist statements. It makes the idea of ‘Wake Up!’, which evokes the extreme, urgent militancy of The Last Poets’ seminal ‘This is Madness’, an uncomfortable, somewhat cringe-worthy proposition in principle and often on listening.

Legend’s six-grammy award winning, philanthropic juggernaut of soul man is a natural partner musically for a band whose focus is the soulful, instrument-led end of hip-hop. We arrive on ‘Hard Times’; a quite self-explanatory suggestion of the themes and general messages to come. But it is not, in any way, an expression of how you will feel about the music. Legend’s silky tones are first exemplified by Questlove’s excellent signature hollowed out percussion, and then by Black Thought, who raps on alternate verses. It’s a blend of direct, sobering vocals and Legend’s typically reassuring tones, but from the very beginning, the soul and hip-hop directions self-evidently complement one another.

When you listen to ‘Wake Up!’, the oozing swagger of ‘Wake Up Everybody!’ is hard to miss. Melanie Fiona delivers a refreshing zing on guest vocals, emanating the clarity, harmony and sunny optimism of the song’s uplifting message (established by Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes more than 30 years ago): “Wake up all the teachers, time to teach a new way. Maybe then they’ll listen to what you have to say.” The block by block repetition of the structure, with doctors, builders and everybody(!) builds a disarmingly anthemic message. I recommend listening to both versions for an interesting comparison on how this bad boy looked in 1975.

The Roots draw inspiration from the various strands of black culture that have entwined with messages of social consciousness over the past 50 years, some radical, and some moderate, like the gospel references on ‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free’. ‘Humanity’s reggae vibe, for example, sits quite uncomfortably alongside Legend’s unmistakably jazz-lounge style- an example of one of those instances where pushing a tempered, accessible sound as well as an honest replication of a genre’s political essence hasn’t really worked. Generally-speaking however, smooth intonements and production do successfully elevate the messages, rather than obstructing them. The 11-minute march ‘I Can’t Write Left-Handed’ and ‘Our Generation (Hope of the World)’ also show that loosely hung together, spontaneous outbursts of feeling are never outshone by more comfortable, softer numbers (‘Shine’ and ‘Holy’).

‘Wake Up!’ is an exciting, rich and diverse accomplishment that has clearly been produced with much thought and evaluation. Not only are The Roots and John Legend pillars of modern music today in their own rights, but the coming together of the former’s driving brass and lyrics, and the latter’s unmatched urban sophistication make this an album of different shades and dimensions, painting mellow, pretty and insular pictures at times, and at others outward, angry and revolutionary ones. Across the spectrum, this is a tale of political feeling and thought. Yet, perhaps, what rings out truest is that there was a time when every artist seemed to have something to say. From Bill Withers to Nina Simone, this album does its rich cultural ancestry proud.

John Legend & The Roots- I Can't Write Left-Handed
John Legend & The Roots- Wake Up Everybody
John Legend & The Roots- I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free

Glasser- Ring (a guest review!)

Mix one part tribal drums, one part electronica and two parts epic harmonies and leave in the fridge overnight...

You awake the next morning to a cacophony of heavenly vocals emanating from the kitchen.

You wander down the stairs, hearing the beat of tribal drums getting louder and louder as you approach and open the fridge door:

This is “Ring”, the debut album from Glasser.

If we were to think of music as a spectrum of colour, with Fever Ray on the dark side, Cameron Mesirow’s Glasser would surely be at the opposite end. Her music resembles Fever Ray with similarly echoing female vocals, but lighter and more accessible in nature as compared to the somewhat scary sound of her Swedish contemporary.

Opening track “Apply” introduces the tribal beat that sets the tone and continues to be the strongest element of the song, almost overpowering Mesirow’s vocals; that is until the harmonious “morning” takes over and continues to build with additional layered vocals.

“Home” is my personal favourite from the album, and blends so many layers together it’s difficult to keep up; you’re just along for the ride as Mesirow’s harmonies reach an uplifting, almost stadium-filling sound.

Glasser- Home

The pentatonic scale used in “Glad” starts to unwind an oriental sound, and, if you listen closely to the strings and bells towards the end of “Home” (the previous track), you can almost hear its seed being planted.

“Plain Temp” takes us back to the tribal theme and is almost reminiscent of the “Circle of Life” from Disney’s “The Lion King” in its repeating chorus.

In terms of beat and vocals, “T” is closer to Fever Ray. Yet it never really gets going, even with the introduction of the synthesiser halfway through the track. At a little over 5 minutes long, it left me rather disappointed. Still, the opening line of “Tremel” (recently remixed by Jamie from The XX) always reminds me of the vocal melody of The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby”, which can only be a good thing. It only repeats a couple of times, but I like to think it was perhaps a little nod to one of Mesirow’s musical heroes.

Seventh of nine is “Mirrorage”. This starts off with a humming minimal beat, but Mesirow keeps layering and layering, building this into another standout from the album- even surprising along the way with some interesting vocals near the end that I’ll leave for you as a surprise.

Glasser- Mirrorage

Penultimate song “Treasure of We” returns to the pentatonic scale but only really picks up half way through. Like many of the songs on this album, it travels and evolves, and, by its climax, has amassed the same expansive reverberations as Florence and the Machine.

Finishing the album: “Clamour”. Mesirow blends everything we’ve heard so far into one, even adding a brass instrument we haven’t yet experienced.

So, when everything is done, there are simply echoes of the past. Somewhere, faintly in the background, the drumming comes back, looping us back to the beginning of “Apply”.

And, suddenly, you’re back standing in your kitchen, staring into the fridge, wondering what just happened.

This really is one of my standout albums of 2010 and I hope you enjoy it.

Now go get a bongo and “Apply” twice a day.

JAMES BLAKE

Rampaging across the blogosphere, James Blake’s music has traversed and codified many of the common influences appearing among breaking artists in the past six months. The London-based electronic producer, still only 21, is on his fourth EP. Here, I will be focusing on his third: CMYK.

You will see below ‘How to Dress Well’ and how Tom Krell’s bedroom-created dreams were inspired by 90s R&B. Well, CMYK is a rather different outcome from the same inputs. Aaliyah and Kelis samples are dropped in, worked upon and fished out of an electronic hubbub- as before HTDW, I could not have imagined. The genre focused upon is emotional, hazy and subtly tinged with memory: “a kind of dead zone for nostalgia, not yet retro-ready but no longer current”, says Mike Powell on Pitchfork. And I would certainly agree. Fleeting use of these 90s tracks do strike a dead zone, in which early twenty somethings- such as myself- have snippets of these commercial tracks from childhood lodged somewhere in the back of minds. Vague, and not fully formed.
The stop-start of ‘Footnotes’ drifts into an addictive half-beat reminiscent of the best warped dubstep. It rarely gets more than minimal, but never less than the synthesiser and clapping beat that together mark this out as a conspiratorial and jittery five minutes. The song with which most readers might be most familiar is 'CMYK'. Its upbeat and frequently joyous lifts are a good example of the smooth R&B Blake gently handles. ‘I’ll Stay’ is warmer, and I would love to know where he found the short, one second thuds that roll around it.
Overall, the EP is, in my view one of the best and most exciting of the year. In just four tracks, it could scarcely manage more wild journeying, both through time and exploring the subject of memory, with so few and carefully chosen blips, beats and jolts. Thoroughly recommended to any open minded listener...particularly in you enjoy How to Dress Well!

James Blake- CMYK
James Blake- Footnotes

FRESH DENIM

White Denim kindly released this new EP Last Day of Summer for free through their WEBSITE last week. It's a rough outline of their work on a third album. 'Shy Billy' will hopefully really kick out after the 2mins-ish available now, when (or if) it's selected for the album.

White Denim- Shy Billy

RUMER

I was fortunate enough to run into Later…With Jools Holland last Friday night, because this excellent blues singer was on called Rumer. John Prescott of all people also saw it apparently, and posted as much on twitter to show his generous support (appreciation that is, not a belt.) Rumer's performance really was a stand out for the series: confident, elegant and most of all touching compositions. In her voice, an unassuming melancholy and gentleness eminates, like the great Carole King. The album ‘Seasons of My Soul’ is out 1st November.

Rumer by Rumer