Showing posts with label 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2013. Show all posts
Monday, January 6, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Top 10 albums of 2013
This list will be more controversial for what I'm leaving out. So no Bowie, National or Queens of the Stone Age:
10 My Bloody Valentine - m b v
Never thought I'd be including Kevin Shields and co in a list like this. This album succeeds by simply doing what MBV are good at. It sounds like it could have come out in 1993 as opposed to 2013, yet it's not dated.
9 Low - The Invisible Way
A remarkably consistent band. This album is more stripped down than of late for them, allowing Sparhawk and Parker's harmonies lots of room to breathe.
8 Bill Callahan - Dream River
Callahan is on fairly opaque form here, and it's an album that I suspect still has to fully reveal itself 3 months on. Still, you can't argue with that voice or his band.
7 Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle - Perils From The Sea
A brave move for Kozelek to leave his voice completely at the mercy of Lavalle's lush, electronic soundbeds. The end result is an undoubted triumph, unlike anything else in his back catalogue.
6 Chequerboard - The Unfolding
A beautiful guitar instrumental album from John Lambert aka Chequerboard.
5 Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
An unexpected return from BoC to produce an addictive soundtrack for dark, uncertain times.
4 Mogwai - Les Revenants
The soundtrack to the TV series of the year, it works beautifully with the programme. But on its own it works really well, pushing Mogwai's music in an understated, keyboard heavy direction.
3 Mark Kozelek & Desertshore
Kozelek returned to a classic guitar, bass, drums combination. There's nothing earth-shattering here, but some of the songs contained are among his strongest in many years.
2 Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - Black Pudding
Lanegan show his more rootsy side on a collaboration that echoes his early 90s solo material in a really good way.
1 Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
Nick Cave and co have had an extraordinary career, yet this album, 10 months on continues to astound, revealing hidden qualities as it goes. Wonderful stuff.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Preview: Potentially decent albums of 2013
I’m not going
to get carried away for 2013. There are
some moderately decent sounding albums due for release:
Nick Cave
& The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away
Nick Cave
& The Bad Seeds release their first album in 4 years on February 18th. They have released the first track from it We
No Who U R, and apart from the appalling text speak in the title, it’s an
understated beauty of a track.
Sun Kil Moon
Mark Kozelek
has transformed into a highly prolific artist.
In the first four months of next year he is scheduled to release 2
albums: Like Rats is a collection of
covers, performed on his nylon acoustic, a bit of everything from Bad Brains to
Sonny and Cher, and it’s due out February 18th. Also due for release is a collaboration with
electronic artist The Album Leaf – Perils of the Sea, coming out on April 30th. It sounds very different from anything
Kozelek has done before.http://www.caldoverderecords.com/likerats/index1.html
Mogwai – Les
Revenants
Mogwai have
done the soundtrack for a French TV series believe it or not, and hopefully
it’s in the vein of all their other releases.
It’s due out on February 25th, and judging by the EP which
crept out just before Christmas, it’s a fairly muted affair.
Low – The
Invisible Way
Low’s 11th
studio album is due for release on March 18th and seemingly up to 5
out 11 tracks are sung by Mimi Parker, and many of them feature prominent
piano. It’s produced by Jeff Tweedy of
Wilco and will probably feature Waiting, a quieter track than of late which
they have been playing live.
And So I Watch
You From Afar – All Hail Bright Futures
ASIWYFA return
with, inevitably, a bang for album no 3, to be released on March 19th. First track released from it, Like A Mouse is
not like any mouse I’ve ever heard. The
track is a little on the poppy side but we’ll see what the rest of the album
brings.http://asiwyfa.bandcamp.com/track/like-a-mouse
Elsewhere,
Johnny Marr’s debut solo album The Messenger is due out on February 25th,
whereas Morrissey’s memoirs are due for release. Alice In Chains are to release the follow up
to Black Gives Way To Blue in the early part of next year, while Mark Eitzel
may self-release an acoustic collection I Am Not A Serious Person. A Pale Horse Named Death will release their
as-yet-untitled second album on May 27th, while Trent Reznor is
likely to have the How To Destroy Angels debut full length album ready for
release in the early part of 2013. There was also some mention of a Bill Callahan DVD but not sure where that's at.
Lloyd Cole has
generated funding from fans for his forthcoming album, due spring/summer. He’s recording with some of the players from
his 1990 self-titled debut. He is also
looking to release a collaboration with Hans Joachim Roedelius – Selected
Studies Volume 1, which will consist of electronic music. Queens of the Stone Age could have an album as
early as March which will feature both Nick Oliveri and Dave Grohl. Ryan Adams is reportedly producing and drumming on a Lemonheads album featuring Evan Dando plus Ben Deily and Juliana Hatfield. We may also hear albums from The National and
Pearl Jam, while seemingly Kevin Shields will put out a My Bloody Valentine
album but I won’t be holding my breath.
Or losing it.
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