Texture over tune.

Sonic Youth have been around for nearly 30 years now. They were spawned out of the New York No-Wave scene in 1981, over the years they've covered more ground than pretty much any other band that I can come to think of. After listening to the majority of their back catalogue i can hear their influence all over the place.





They're second major label album "Dirty" mistaken to be grunge influenced, but listening to earlier albums and seeing how they had developed, it's not very grunge at all. The early 90's era of their music saw them with a much more stripped down sound, however without leaving their noisey delivery and aesthetics. "Goo" and "Dirty" probably they're most popular albums, are very unlike their other albums, the bands general sound is much more noisy, experimental and jammy.


Sonic Youth took the very foundations of rock music and abandoned them, they re-defined the structure. They were really more punk influenced than rock, I hear more contemparies Husker du in there sound even The Velvet Underground. But what Sonic Youth had was even more experimental, a sound more about texture and layers than the tune or melody. Walls of sound if you might. This would later influence bands like "The Jesus And Mary Chain" and later "My Bloody Valentine" and they further built on this. They were even a key influence in "post-rock", with the "Washing Machine" albums ender "The Diamond Sea" and later album "A Thousand Leaves".


But now in 2010 I can hear their influence everywhere, the growing noise rock scene with bands such as "No-Age", "Lovvers", or "Wavves" all sound fairly Sonic Youth-esque. Though now there are even more far out experimental bands out there, they owe some debt to Sonic Youth and they're different outlook on noise and song structure.

Autumn playlist

Just thought i'd post some good music, what i'm listening to this autumn.

Arcade fire's "The Suburbs" (seeing them headline Reading festival was mad!)

Belle and Sebastian's "Write about love"

Avi Buffalo

Twin Sister

Mogwai

Le Loup

Warpaint (saw them at Reading and will be again next week in Brighton, my favourite new band and easily the best debut of the year)

Will try and post more reviews soon.

Blonde Redhead - Penny Sparkle

Blonde Redhead - Penny Sparkle (4AD) released 13th September 2010


Blonde Redhead are a Alternative Rock band from New York. They've been around for nearly 20 years and often compared to Sonic Youth. Named after a DNA song, Blonde Redhead offer dreamy psychedelic-tinged rock music. After reading pitchfork's review of newly released "Penny Sparkle" I felt it was way too opinonated and I could do a better job.


"Penny Sparkle" follows there usual dream-pop sound but is a lot more electronic, sounding very 80's. The vocals are soft, sexy and ethreal; the overall sound of this album is a lot more quiet than previous work and less Sonic Youth-esque. I think fans of Beach House will like this album, it's got a lot to offer. Guitars and synths build walls of sound, creating very eerie dreamy sounds, almost sounding like "Fever Ray" though not that eerie (some of the producers on Fever Ray's album are also on this).


There's more drum machines than on last album "23", another reason why I think Beach House fans will like it. Vocals are a lush lullaby of echoes and whispers, think a mix of Rachel Goswell and Björk; they heighten the atmosphere on this album, which is really mellow. Despite pitchfork labelling this "chillwave" (as they like to give everything a label), it's far from, this is a mellow dream pop which is synth-heavy and sexy. Though maybe not there best work and definitley not there most experimental, this is definitely a solid album with good songwriting. You can hear the influences on it too, a fusion of Depeche Mode and My Bloody Valentine. Definitely worth a go if you'd like a fresh dream-pop album with plenty of synths.


7/10


Here's there brand new video "Not Getting There".

Villagers - Becoming A Jackal Album Review

Villagers - Becoming A Jackal



Villagers are an irish indie-folk band. They've played several festivals and were nominated for the mercury prize. So, what's so good about Villagers?



"Becoming a Jackal" is overall a mellow folk album, great lyrically and frontman O'Brien is a talented guy, doing alot of the instrumentation on the tracks himself. There's a very dark theme to this album, it's all quite depressing; the only upbeat track really is "The Pact-I'll be your fever". None-the-less this album is fairly interesting. Mainly acoustic instrumentation as you'd imagine, from a folk sounding artist, with some catchy riffs and enticing vocals.

Content-wise, alot of the songs to me sound pretty similar, There's potential in it but it's like the band doesn't have anything new to offer. They don't sound like any other bands really either, but thats not exactly a good thing, it's like they have the blueprint to something and they're not doing much more to it. If Villagers were more experimental I think they'd appeal more to me, but hey, they appeal to alot of other people, just not clicking with me. I'm not saying they're bad, or good. I really don't have an opinion. Lyricaly it's great, and overall it's a good folk/indie album, if only they had more variety.


So I'd recommend you give it a go, they're not my cup of tea. But if you like bands like Mumford and Sons or a dark folk album; give it a go!



5/10

Rain collapse

Lightly chiming raindrops cascade

Whistles and drips a serenade

It coats the town and resides

Passing as the tide

Soothing but a cackling bluster

Covers the ground in a porcealin luster

Shifting and rustling through the trees

Refreshing the land, hydrating in ease

Watch it sheen and from the sky collapse

Rolls down my window until it's humble elapse

Album review ! : Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest





Much has been written about Brooklyn band "Grizzly Bear", with earlier releases "Yellow House" and "friend" Grizzly Bear have quite a following. But with their latest album "Veckatimest" (2009) they have grown a much bigger fanbase and have been pushed into the limelight. They played alongside Radiohead and more recently the other stage at Glastonbury.


This album sounds like a summer campfire in an enchanted forest, full of whispers, melodies and Folk inspired sound. The production on the album is near perfection, a much less lo-fi sound to their previous work. The tempo is mellow and steady on nearly ever track but none-the-less this is a very interesting album and far from boring. There's some amazing walls of guitar sound, almost a shoegaze sound on the guitars (see track "Ready, able"), accompanied by pitch perfect vocal harmonies which really make this album; I don't like to make comparisons but think of a cross between Animal Collective's "Sung Tongs" meets a less crazy Dirty Projectors' "Bitte Orca" and you wont be far off. Opening track "Southern point" sets the mood for a dreamy psych folk album with a really sleepy sound which is full of energy at the same time.

The drumming is slow to mid-tempo yet quirky and unpredictable, they particularly build up really well on tracks like "Two weeks" "All we ask" and "Cheerleader". There is a few dull points on the album where it can feel a bit slow, but definitely a great album to chill to with some great harmonies. Just look at how many good things have already been written about it already! Listen for yourself, if you're looking for a mellow indie album with a unique sound you will not be disappointed.


8/10


Check them out!

Introduction to Grrrrl Britpop !

Okay, so we all know Blur, Oasis and Suede, but what about the great girl-fronted Brit pop bands? (No, not the spice girls)

In it's glory days in the 90's there were many greats! And if you haven't heard much, heres some good places start.




Moving on from their shoegaze sounds in their earlier work Lush were a great brit pop group. Listen to the "lovelife" album for more stuff.




Another great band in the brit pop days were Sleeper; wrongly they're most well known work being their first album "Smart" and their cover of Blondie's "Atomic". Their best work is in their "The It Girl" album, full of personality and catchy guitar pop !




Echobelly were a great band, check their "On" and "Everybody's got one" albums for more catchy songs. There's rumours about a new album in 2010 under a different band name "Calm Of Zero".




Other bands worth a look are:

Elastica

Republica

Garbage (though not exactly brit pop)