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 18^th.  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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kBl86cIV3g

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 18^th.  Also due for release is a collaboration with electronic artist The Album Leaf – Perils of the Sea, coming out on April 30^th.  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 25^th, and judging by the EP which crept out just before Christmas, it’s a fairly muted affair.

 

Low – The Invisible Way

Low’s 11^th studio album is due for release on March 18^th 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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2swv0SQI_C4

 

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 19^th.  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 25^th, 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 27^th, 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.

Album Review: And So I Watch You From Afar| Gangs

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And So I Watch You From Afar – Instore at Tower Records, Dublin, April 30th 2011

There was a fair smattering of people to see And So I Watch You From Afar playing instore early on a Saturday afternoon. This band radiates excitement. They powered through mainly tracks from just released new album Gangs, tracks like BEAUTIFULUNIVERSEMASTERCHAMPION and Search:Party:Animal were powered through with some serious volume.

They played a couple of older tracks such as the joyous D is for Django the Bastard. Watching them play this song is quite a sight to behold. Simply, it’s 4 guys going absolutely nuts and tearing it up with this song. They didn’t forget their first album, playing A Little Bit of Solidarity Goes A Long Way.

Would have loved to have seen them play for real at the Button Factory later but life got in the way. Still ASIWYFA are becoming a seriously big deal, and seeing them for free on a Saturday afternoon was a real treat.

EP Review: And So I Watch For You From Afar – The Letters

2010 saw the release of this EP from my current obsession And So I Watch You From Afar, and this review is a little late but here goes:

S is for Salamander is a typically brutal ASIWYFA track, slaying all before them with heavy guitar riffs and impressive changes in tempo. There’s a neat line in machine-gun percussion in the midsection of the track.

D is for Django the Bastard is a real rabble-rouser. The pay-off comes early in this one as some melodic guitar leads into a sledgehammer mayhem-style riff. They go a little power metal in the midsection, with even a slight jazzy feel thrown in, till the powerful riff returns again, closing out the track with a wallop.

B is for B-Side is not quite as strong as the opening 2, rendering its title somewhat appropriate but K is for Killing Spree, which follows is another matter. Quite apart from being the archetypal ASIWYFA song title, the boys throw the kitchen sink at this one. It’s like a mixture of every one of their riffs inside 6 minutes, though it has the overall effect of sounding less post-rock, more metal, and thus less distinctive as a track from this band. It still rips along nicely, and the midsong collapse has me thinking of Sonic Youth.

Perhaps ASIWYFA actually work better on an EP as it’s hard to maintain the thrill levels over the course of a whole album, you have to reduce the intensity at some point. But no need to over 4 tracks.

Live Review: And So I Watch You From Afar - Whelans, Dublin, December 31st 2010

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FMC Tour – And So I Watch You From Afar, Jape, Fionn Regan, Cloud Castle Lake – Whelans, Dublin, Nov 20th 2010

Review for www.meg.ie

Album Review: And So I Watch You From Afar

I’m a bit late picking up on this band from the North’s debut album, released last year. Primarily an instrumental band, the title of the opening track, Set Guitars To Kill should tell you everything you need to know about it. It stomps all over the place with sledgehammer guitars pounding through the song. Absolutely awesome.

The album doesn’t let up from there, offering visceral thrills not heard on an Irish album for some time. A Little Bit of Solidarity Goes A Long Way barrels along for all of 3 minutes.

They remind me of Mogwai with the metal turned up and a little Sonic Youth, Queens of the Stone Age and a bit of the doomier side of The Cure added in for good measure. A good example of this is Clench Fists, Grit Teeth… GO!, six minutes of pure metal carnage. They do take the occasional breather, allowing some tracks such as I Capture Castles to build up gradually, and even take something of mid-song siesta in Start A Band, which itself is almost like 3 songs in one.
Later on the album Tip of the Hat, Punch in the Face reminds me of forgotten Irish band Coldspoon Conspiracy. There’s a lovely Sonic Youth style mid-song break with lots of ringing trebly guitars in Don’t Waste Time Doing Things You Hate, before some “na na na” vocals, one of the few vocals on the album. Final track Eat the City, Eat it Whole perfects the art of the slow build.

It’s the kind of music that influences behaviour, you’ll definitely want to be hell-raising after getting THIS into your ears. Or breaking something. I think you can still get tickets to see them in Whelans this Saturday with Jape and Fionn Regan. So… stop what you’re doing, go and buy this album immediately and get down to Whelans this Saturday. Though by the sounds of things they’ll smash the place to bits.