Claudia Brucken & Andrew Poppy – Another Language

This is a lovely album, right up my alley of things to listen to. Claudia Brucken was the lead singer with legendary 80′s band Propaganda – and with ZTT label mate Andrew Poppy, they have produced a collection of reinterpreted pop songs, not just covers – but real remakes with subtle and and sometimes not-so-subtle shifts in style. Expect to hear covers of Radiohead, Kate Bush and David Bowie on here, the piano and voice version of ‘Running up that hill’ is a real stand out track, very dramatic. Excellent album – well produced, and brilliantly constructed.

Kronos Quartet & Asha Bhosle – You’ve stolen my heart

Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle – You’ve stolen my heart : I listened to this album with a little trepidation, I love Asha Bhosle’s voice…and I like the Kronos Quartet, but I wasn’t convinced how they would go together. It really works – the combination of deep soundscapes by the Kronos Quartet blends nicely with Bhosles amazing voice, and Hindi (?) lyrics. The album is made of tracks composed by her husband R.D. Burman, who was a key figure in creating the sound of Bollywood that everyone recognises. The best track for me is ‘Relationships grow Slowly’ and the instrumental ‘Beloved o Beloved’. The tracks are well updated – with plenty of the original flavour involved – sometimes surreal and almost abstract, and often doleful and sad, Asha Bhosles voice is allowed much room to breathe. I highly recommend this if you’d like a relatively gentle introduction to Asha Bhosle’s work.

Antony and the Johnsons – I Am a Bird now

Antony and the Johnsons – I am a bird now : this album will be everywhere on the internet right now, so I guess I’m not breaking down any doors with talking about this – but despite winning the Mercury Prize, this is a really important album, almost unique in the current market. I think this is the second full length recording by this group, and its a haunting, troubled collection of torch songs. There are some great collaborations, Boy George, Rufus Wainwright and Lou Reed appear – and their voices meld well with the sometimes falsetto, sometimes jazzy voice of Antony. The lyrics are hard work – sometimes disturbing (“my lady story is on of annihilation) and sometimes beautiful and gentle (“you are my sister, and i love you, may all your dreams come true”). The whole album is compelling and transfixing – his voice and content are difficult, but everyone should hear this. A brilliant piece.

Leader of the Free World

George Bush needs a pee – so what does he do? Of course, he writes a little note to Condi Rice…sweet huh?

A ghost on the horizon…

These could be the best lyrics I’ve heard for a while…I’m late, but I just discovered the Antony & the Johnsons album – I’ll review it later – but for now, this is important:

Hope there’s someone who’ll take care of me,
When I die, will I go…
Hope there’s someone, Who’ll set my heart free,
Nice to hold when I’m tired

Hope there’s someone, Who’ll take care of me,
When I die, Will I go
Hope there’s someone, Who’ll set my heart free ,
Nice to hold when I’m tired

Hope theres Someone – Antony and the Johnsons (2005)

Continuing a great year…

I’ve seen some great bands this year – so I want to continue a good year of live music – I’ve sorted some forthcoming tickets – heres my current schedule:

27/09 – Stephen Fretwell, Kings College, London
27/11 – Ian Brown, Brixton Academy, London
15/12 – Coldplay / Richard Ashcroft, Earls Court, London
April 2006 – Depeche Mode, Wembley

Hmmm, I need a live one in October…

You bring the house down…

At the risk of turning my personal site into a ‘fan-site’, I must mention the amazing night I had yesterday at Koko in Camden – to see Elbow – who f*&$ing rocked! The band were superb, covering most of the new album (which I have mentioned before here), and lots of the big tracks from their previous two albums – highlights for me were Fugitive Motel, Fallen Angel and Newborn and from the new album, a huge (audience participation) version of Leaders of the Free World, and a lovely keys and vocals version of ‘Puncture Repair’. They sounded really good, nice lights and tight production. The Koko venue is amazing, such a transformation from its old ‘Camden Palace’ days when we all used to go raving there – now its decorated like a baroque ballroom with great clour schemes and a huuuuuge mirrorball. I took a raft of photos – some of which I am really happy with - they’re over here at Flickr. A brilliant night out, if you haven’t bough the album yet – you really should.

David Gray – Life in Slow Motion

David Gray – Life in Slow Motion He of the wobbly head is back, with another fantastic album of grown up songs…and thats without even mentioning the beautiful cover photography of a glacier. The album opens with Alibi, which slowly builds to an excellent tune and The One I Love which just screams ‘single’ to me. As you expect the rest of the album is beautifully produced, loads of room for the voice to breathe, nothing is hidden in clever production which means that the songwriting really shines through. The stand out track for me is ‘Ain’t no Love’ which reminds me of some of the better 1970′s song writing, nicely placed piano and strings coupled with a cleverly phrased love song. Super stuff, bound to be huge, and with good reason.

More live music coming…

Quite excited about going to see Elbow at Koko in London next week – should be a nice intimate venue to hear their stuff in, and now have got tickets to see Stephen Fretwell at the Kings College Students Union in London at the end of September, I’m convinced that album is going to take off much like James Blunt, or Damien Rice did, so it will be nice to see him at a small venue before stardom ruins him.

Leaves – The Angela Test

Leaves – The Angela Test: I discovered this after a small blizzard of reviews in the Sundays whilst I was away on holiday, most of them threw up comparisons with Sigur Ros (its a idle reviewer that compares them because they both come from Iceland) and so I needed to hunt down and check out if the references were good. The Opener (Shakma) is a bang on comparison, swirling guitars and vocals create a heady 7 minute track which sets a high standard for the remainder of the album, which actually doesn’t remind me of Sigur Ros at all. ‘The second track ‘Whatever’ kicks off with beautiful feedback noises and a nice piano, but soon breaks into something much more like The Doves, the vocal sound alone is very close…and the whole album continues along that vein. Superbly crafted songs with slow, intense and brooding build-ups that require great production and excellent songwriting. I hear influences from The Doves and maybe even Jesus and Mary Chain…but this is unique enough to defy too many cheap cliched references. Enjoyed this a lot. Buy it.