This Year in Music - Part 1

 

The year is drawing to a close and, like many others, I too have been reviewing the year in musical terms. In previous years, I have tried to compile lists of the best albums and songs. I abandoned this plan because I found it difficult to summarise the releases in a table. That's why I'm going to summarise the most interesting and perhaps best albums and songs for me in columns over the next few days. 

Enough preamble. 

One of the most impressive albums of this year for me was >>>> by Beak>. After Geoff Barrow left Portishead, he teamed up with Bobby Fuller to try out new forms of arrangement. Since then, they have regularly released albums with a progressive mixture of hypnotic electronics and drone-like rockism. An album for the head with deep roots in krautrock, somewhere between Neu! and Can. The opener already shows the direction. A church organ plays for a minute before synths and Liebezeit-like drums kick in. Incredibly good and a top-class album.

Craven Faults are another band that doesn't stick to classic song structures. They describe their music as background music for long walks through the north of England. All songs have a strong hypnotic and meditative touch that carries you far away and is unique in this form.

 

Johnathan Donahue aka Mercury Rev takes a similar, albeit completely different, direction with Born Horses. For years, he has been creating extraordinary highlights with his song structures. You can only love or hate his music, as he arranges his songs with a lot of strings and horns - right up to the edge of kitsch. On the other hand, he always manages to strike a sentimental chord, as he does with Ancient Love.

Since a couple of years Irish DJ and producer Mike Wilson releases superb music. The main thing is Balearic but with a lot of influences by classic music, psychedelia and house. His Shine A Light, which has nothing in common with the Rolling Stones is a belter.

10Mark Cooper and Bob Miles, both DJ's and masterminds and founders of Solid Gold/Agent Cooper are Bedford Falls Players a new but innovative project in electronic music. During the last months they released a couple of new songs in an electronic style and all of them were above the average. Cosmic Cascade is their latest release and a highlight of new electronic music. A steady rhythm with bleebs, electronic improvisations and a bit of hypnotic sounds, leading into a brighter future.0 Poems · Shine A Light (Ft Hyson Green)

Like I said back in May: Mark Cooper and Bob Miles, both DJ's and masterminds and founders of Solid Gold/Agent Cooper are Bedford Falls Players a new but innovative project in electronic music. During the last months they released a couple of new songs in an electronic style and all of them were above the average. Cosmic Cascade is their latest release and a highlight of new electronic music. A steady rhythm with bleebs, electronic improvisations and a bit of hypnotic sounds, leading into a brighter future.

The Woodentops are still alive and from time to time they release some new stuff. Most of them are worth to make a great rework like Coyote did this year.

Consciousology

 

There are some musicians who have to do a lot to disappoint me with a new single or album. My affection is too great not to forgive weaker songs. One of them is Dot Allison, whose voice always captures me. A few days ago she announced the release of her next solo album for the end of July and released the lead single Consciousology. It is once again a dreamy piece of pop music, enhanced by the guitar of her label mate Andy Bell. It looks like Dot is moving in the direction of established songwriters like Tim Hardin and Mercury Rev with her new songs. This is certainly not the wrong road to take.

Red Desert

 

The Vacant Lots is a Brooklyn, NYC based post-punk, electronic duo that is active since a decade and made some albums that are far over the average. A few name them as the devisee of Suicide. But you can't compare them with the synth-punk pioneers Alan Vega and Mercury Rev although you can hear fragments of their sound in their music. They have also influences of New Order, Pet Shop Boy and Human League in their songs. Red Desert is a song that could appear on any album by Sonic Boom and this is astonishing because Peter Kember mastered a few of their albums.  

And Disintegration could be song that was played often when it was released 30 years earlier.

Until The Lights Go Out

During the last years more and more bands from Italy showed up with new and fresh material mostly in the category of psychedelic music. One of those is Julie's Haircut from Reggia Romana. They released their ninth album a few weeks ago and it is very good and don't have to hide behind productions from other countries ruling this genre. Their music is spread between Mercury Rev and Spiritualized one one side and Can and JAMC on the other. It is great to hear that they make a very true and unique sound of their influences. Great songs with a motorik beat and some feedbacks make this record worth playing.

Forgotten Britpop

Our mates over at The Sound of Being OK had a rundown of the best Brit-Pop albums ever and I enjoyed it much to follow to number one. Thinking of great songs from this genre I always come to Mercury Rev. Of course it is a band in the greater periphery of New York but their songs seemed like they could be recorded in London. They had the feeling of great pop songs with very individual sounds. Sadly they were less named when we talk about Brit-Pop.

Mercury Rev - Goddess on a Highway