The Delgados – “All You Need Is Hate”
Hate
Satire? Or is there more truth here than we’d like to believe? Either way, it’s a great song, the standout from an interesting but grossly overproduced album.
DJ Food – “The Riff”
Kaleidoscope
This fun album comes via Ninja Tune, a label I listened to almost exclusively for a few months. DJ Food is a talented sound collage artist, and while this track isn’t really the most representative, it is one of the more original-sounding. Very fun, very frenetic. (Ninja Tune)
Rachel’s – “The Mysterious Disappearance Of Louis Leprince”
Selenography
Another track from the only Rachel’s record I’ve really ever listened to. This is the other standout from this album, the one that was playing when I decided I must have this record. I wasn’t familiar with post-rock, modern chamber music, or really anything at all when I heard it, so it struck me as completely original then, and while it’s lost some of its mystery to more mysterious artists, it’s notable in my life as one of the songs that got me listening to lots and lots of other things.
Growing – “In The Shadow Of The Mountain”
His Return
Growing’s monolithic soundscapes aren’t for everyone, but for those who can handle them, they’re transportive. There’s little that can be said by way of description. Their songs are less like songs, and more like little worlds you inhabit for ten or fifteen minutes at a time.
Mogwai – “Kids Will Be Skeletons”
Happy Songs For Happy People
This album, the second of the “new Mogwai” so disappointing to some, is understated rather than uncompromising, and although it ends up underwhelming at times, it demonstrates their strength in arrangement rather than raw power. The delicate and deliberately paced “Kids Will Be Skeletons” and the sibilant and triumphant closer, “Stop Coming To My House,” are just plain beautiful, something missing from a lot of loud music these days. (insound)
Thieves – “Silent Servant”
You Hold The World Like A Gun
This totally unexpected record defies categorization, its closest relatives being Secret Frequency Crew, Herbaliser, and Four Tet — yet Thieves maintains a sound all their own, darker, noisier, more repetitive. Each song sounds more like the soundtrack to a scene than a standalone piece of music. Original and arresting.
Espers – “Sightings”
III
While I doubt Espers will ever again attain the heights they reached with their debut album, tracks like this one at least keep me occupied while I hope against hope. Most of this album seems to show too much of how the band works, like a magician explaining his tricks, but a few tracks, like “Sightings,” manage to be as mysterious and beautiful as any they’ve ever made. (insound)
Four Tet – “Angel Echoes”
There Is Love In You
Four Tet has moved away from the magical, Fridge-esque organic electronica and towards a more beat-oriented sound, but that’s not all bad. And of course we’ll always have Pause. And there’s something about the disjointed sampling on this and other tracks from this album that catches my ear. There’s a lot of variety, but early Manitoba is the best reference point I can think of.
Benny Goodman – “Sing Sing Sing (With A Swing)”
Live At Carnegie Hall
I came across this track completely by accident while looking for the more conventional dance hall version of this song, but after putting it on, sat in shocked rapture for the entire 12 minutes. The breakdowns and rebuilds, the departures and returns to the original melodies, the unbelievable playing. I wish I could hear what he says that makes the audience laugh nine minutes in, though. And man do I wish I was there that night in 1938.
Crime in Choir – “Cincinnati”
Crime in Choir
Two. Two. Two songs in one. The first half is a triumphant anthem with unbelievably tight percussion; the second half, a gorgeous guitar soundscape with clattering drums and voice loops. Just an absolutely brilliant piece of music all the way through. (insound)