Monthly Archives: March 2014

Album Review: Water Liars

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Water Liars
Water Liars -‘Water Liars (Fat Possum)

Though I have to ‘fess up to them being a new name to me, this Mississippi trio’s album is actually their third. If pushed to explain what they sound like, it’s reminiscent of Neil Young when he’s working with Crazy Horse, so it’s rock meets country, without being country-rock per se.

There’s a punk ethic at work here, and the band also have the ability to produce songs that are genuinely moving – for my money, the outstanding track on the album is the folky ‘Swannanoa.’ There’s a southern flavour to the album, in a je ne sais quoi kind of way, too.

It’s very definitely an American album, and it might not be the most obvious album for a lot of a British audience to pick up upon. But cast your ears this way, and there’s a few treats in store, like ‘I Want Blood’ and ‘Ray Charles Dream.’

***1/2

Water Liars is out now on Fat Possum.

More new music from The Last Battle

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The Last Battle will be releasing their long-awaited sophomore album, Lay Your Burden Down on May 5. I have heard it and it’s excellent.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. None Of That
2. You & Me
3. Breathe Bones
4. The Crunching
5. Perfecting The Art (Of Saying Nothing)
6. Cocoons
7. Wherever Our Feet Take Us
8. Spreading Wings, Taking Flight
9. Torness

There are two gig launches taking place, one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh

Last Battle album launches

As of today they have made ‘Breathe Bones’ available to download FOR FREE!

You can pre-order it from their bandcamp or you could ask your local Record shop to stock it… Whatever you do, buy it, and give them the same level of exposure that the likes of bands like Meursault and Withered Hand enjoy…

Album Review: Withered Hand

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Withered Hand New Gods

Withered Hand -‘New Gods’ (FortunaPOP!)

Nearly twenty years ago, around the time of the release of Blur’s The Great Escape and Oasis’ (What’s The Story?) Morning Glory‘ either the NME or (the now-defunct) Melody Maker carried an advert that suggested those responsible for it more than knew their market. ‘Granny’ll buy you Blur and Oasis for Christmas,’ read the advert. ‘Buy Garbage now.’ And many people did buy that debut Garbage album.

I bring this seemingly trivial anecdote up because there’s three albums coming out that I think you should own, each of them brilliant and very different. One is Beck’s Morning Phase, another is Pharrell Williams’ G I R L and the third is Withered Hand’s New Gods. Like the other two albums, it has been a bit of a wait for Dan Willson’s sophomore album (don’t leave off the second ‘l’!), five years since his debut Good News.

And it’s been worth the wait. This is a more than worthy successor to Good News, and the gap was bridged by the release of two very fine EPs in 2012, Heart Heart and Inbetweens. It’s more of an upbeat sounding record, and the two opening tracks ‘Horseshoe’ and ‘Black Tambourine’ give a flavour of what to expect, with a song as evocative of the West Coast of America as it is of DiY jangle-pop.

Make no mistake, it’s still Dan Willson and he’s still got a way with a tune and as fine a lyricist as the Isles have produced in many a year. Even with the impressive list of people who he’s played with and those who collaborate on the record (members of eagleowl, Belle & Sebastian, Frightened Rabbit and The Vaselines, amongst many others), it’s a record of someone who’s travelled the world playing his songs and that’s seeped into the greater confidence on display here. Perhaps the standout track is ‘King of Hollywood’ about a night out in LA with his friend and mentor King Creosote.

No doubt there’ll have to be some idiot who’ll grumble about Mr. Willson and his fine supporting case stepping into a proper studio for the first time, with noted producer Tony Doogan at the helm. These people should keep their opinions to themselves. It’s an accomplished and polished album, and all the better for it.

I’m sure you can get Pharrell or Beck later on. Buy Withered Hand now.

*****

New Gods is released on March 10 on FortunaPOP!

Album Review: Beck

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Beck-Morning-Phase

Beck -‘Morning Phase.’ (Capitol)

Listening to this album, it occurs to me that in many ways, parallels could be drawn between Beck Hansen and Neil Young. Both have experimented with different styles of music during their long careers, careers that can now be measured in decades rather than years. Both might be remembered by the more casual music fan for a song that was a hit long ago – but have demonstrated that it is albums that are their true forte. In Young’s case, the song would be ‘Heart of Gold’ in Beck’s case it was his breakthrough hit ‘Loser.’ And it may come as a bit of a shock to realise that the latter is now twenty years old.

And – without going on about Neil Young too much – both have created work amongst their that is deeply evocative of the west coast of America, specifically California. In Young’s case it’s an album like Harvest, in Beck’s case, it’s Morning Phase. It may have been six years since his last album, Modern Guilt, but when you hear it, the wait won’t matter.

And with song titles like ‘Say Goodbye’ ‘Blue Moon’ and ‘Unforgiven’ you might be forgiven for assuming that this album – billed as his acoustic album – would be a relentless sad and difficult listen. It’s not. Sure, it’s melancholic – but it’s a lushly orchestrated and beautifully constructed melancholy at the same time. Considering it’s his twelfth album, this may well be the best album he has ever made, and that’s in a career that has seen a number of great albums.

It’s almost deceptively simple and straightforward – it’s not delivered to us as a heartbreaking meditation on life, and the orchestration is decorative, rather than overpowering. Somehow it arrives, pretty well fully-formed, and revealing a little more of its magic on each successive listen. Once you’ve heard the opening ‘Cycle’ and ‘Morning’ you’ll want to stay the whole way for the 47 minute ride.

****1/2

Morning Phase is out now on Capitol.

The return of Coldplay

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2014Coldplay_Press_AntonCorbijn_250214

There are, doubtless, some people who feel I shouldn’t blog about Coldplay. They have been phenomenally successful, and probably come the closest to doing a U2 (i.e. coming from a very, very slightly leftfield tradition and gone on to sell millions of records and committing the cardinal sin of selling music to people who don’t usually buy music) than any other act. Why should a blog cover them when it will be featured everywhere? However, I’ve always liked them, and whilst it’s perfectly fair to slag off a band if you feel they make rubbish records, it’s pathetic to slag them off just because they’re successful.

This May they will release their sixth album. It’s entitled Ghost Stories and it’s out on May 19.

This is the first track to premiere from the album last week, which is uncharacteristic of Coldplay (though the band have worked with Brian Eno several times, and his influence is all over this track). This is called ‘Midnight.’

This track will be the first single proper from the album, entitled ‘Magic.’

Of the two tracks I’m more impressed with ‘Midnight’. Certainly, there will be those who sneer that it’s Coldplay and it will just sound like them. But if you’re open to challenging your prejudices why not give it a try?

The tracklisting for the album is as follows:

‘Always In My Head’
‘Magic’
‘Ink’
‘True Love’
‘Midnight’
‘Another’s Arms’
‘Oceans’
‘A Sky Full Of Stars’
‘O’