Warpaint is one of these bands I came back often to during the last years not only because they made timeless and great music for me. So I looked forward to their new album that was released last week. To be honest I didn't have more expectations than another good record by them and I have to say they disappointed me. All the songs were made during the lockdown and any musician recorded their parts in isolation and the songs were built together later, slowly and layer by layer. And this worked very well because they had the time to create their sound perfectly. The songs seems to have a bit of westcoast feeling and sometimes they remind me a bit of Fleetwood Mac at their best times and by comparison, feels more complete… more accomplished even. Anyway, they are far away from them and they didn't lost their roots. They made songs that grow the more you listen to them. It is an album that will stand the test of time.
These days Tracey Thorn released her newest album after several years and it is the kind of thing I expected. It continues at the place she arrived with the album before. Electric beats as a fundament for her voice. Now the beats were still programmed that way but she was assisted by some musicians of Warpaint and Corinne Bailey Rae. Music with warm synths, bells and a snarling bass like New Order; and Tracey Thorn with theirs floats above all still in such a way clarify, light and sure voice.
Los Angeles based experimental indie-rock band Warpaint released their latest album a few days ago. Formerly influenced by PIL, Siouxie and Cocteau Twins they now turned into funk inspired by Nile Rodgers. The transformation from this early sound was finished in By Your Side. It is more past R'n'B electronic sound with fizzling percussion and dodgy percussion. Guitars and vocals are accentuation to the sound. Something new but borrowed by Tom Tom Club ages ago.
A few weeks ago I had my regular visit with the dentist. When I have sat in the waiting room and have waited to me in the row am I have paged through from boredom a women's service magazine. Not that these themes are interesting me much sometimes I take a spot on the reviews of books and records in it. I've been reading an article about the new record by The Secret Sisters. In this euphoric article they told the readers that it's the best new country record since long time. The only thing I knew about The Secret Sisters that they recorded a traditional country album. When I have read that T-Burne Burnett has produced the album I have dealt closer with it and must say that it has become a very good and contemporary album for this genre. The songs are dominated by the clear voices of the sisters Laura and Lydia Rogers based in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Sometimes it remembers me on Adele going the country-style sometimes I think it's the country version of Warpaint. Mostly I was impressed on their version of PJ Harvey's 'The Pocket Knife'.
Have a nice week - where ever you, whatever you do.
Update notice: Fucking DMCA prohibits me from providing the songs as a download. That's why I have made available the songs about Youtube, so that everybody can make to itself a picture of my image.
What year with so many heights and depths. I have come back better and better in my occupation. And the better I have managed this, the worse it goes for my wife in her occupation. Not only that she a lot of problems has to do to herself in her position, but there are colleagues whom have worked against her. I do not know how many evenings we have maintained us and looked for solutions. At last the best solution might be that she gives up her job and searches for herself something else. This was also the time in which we have gone away on from ourselves and did not have any more the same aims which we want to pursue. Nevertheless, we have done everything to give ourselves a new perspective and to gain control of our life again. Then something happened what I would not have held for possible. My father got cancer and has passed away after a short time of the suffering peacefully. I would never have thought, how much I would lack him, because he was there fifty years for me and my brothers always. This is why all other things that happened to me made no difference. Anyway - life goes on. More next week, people.
Seems like I turned more and more into electronic music:
LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening: If only for Dance Yrself Clean
Caribou - Swim: Fantastic record
Four Tet - There Is Love In You: Good like everytime
Warpaint - The Fool: What a great band and what a great record
The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang: Influences of Springsteen, Waits and The Clash made a great record
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs: Another alternative rock that sounds good
Panta Du Prince - Black Noise: Electronic music that I played often since then
And here like the weeks before, some songs from the start of the topical decade:
And again: some movies from this year:
The Kings Speech: Excellent historical drama
The Social Network: A true story how to get a billionaire
Black Swan: Wonderful pictures and a great drama
Shutter Island: Very good novel and a very good movie
Inception: Di Caprio again - what a great story
Soul Kitchen: Fantastic story about how to run a German restaurant
Some headlines again from the rest of the world:
Heavy earthquake in Haiti devastating the capitol Port-au-Prince; more than 300.000 people died // Airplane crash in Smolensk kills the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski // European finance crises starts with the support of Greece // Ethnic riots in Kyrgyzstan // 2010 FIFA World Cup is held in South Africa and was won by Spain against the Netherlands
He has it still - this rat-catcher's voice; though she sounds different, more fragile, taken, but also a little age-wise and more conciliatorily, but not less reproachfully, only less deploring. 16 years after Spirits that reports back of drugs, alcohol and the destiny sieved Heron, finally, again with a new collection from poems and songs, and knows how as to fascinate as at times from winter in America.
The special in this record is above all that he has found a sympathetic musical partner, or in Richard Russell also again better: this has found Heron and has reactivated directly from the prison. Differently than Brian Jackson in the 70s, however, Russell offers a wide spectrum of styles with those he Heron's texts puts under which have all one common denominators: the bandaging of traditional instrumentations with highly topical modern genres like hip-hop and electronics. The fact that here stretching frictional surfaces should prove is clear that this succeeds, however is, also to be ascribed to the aerial and partly fragile arrangements which Russell sketched here thus capably and absolutely freely of currying favour. How he made from Robert Johnson 's classic Me And The Devil an artistic hip-hop, is as astonishing as the quite clear power station loans in Your soul And mine. Blues is celebrated on I'll take Care Of You and Heron's own (and fantastic) New York Is Killing Me and above all to this piece a rhythmically like orchestrated gruff Extravaganza sticks which one has never heard thus. Soonest comparably this is still with blues an explosion, only never overload so and crudely. Heron's gospel song-like song does his remaining around these songs to let get under skin.
And if he proclaims guitar accompanied his lyrics with the title track only from accumulator tables, one also thinks without fail of first (and possibly best) American Recordings album of Johnny Cash. If one of the big old men should walk on such a way for his late work, then Heron. A short, but big and extremely exciting album which connects Old and newly brilliantly. Heron has never taken up bad albums, but I'm New Here counts definitively to his best.
