Album Review : Various Artists Exclusive Blend Vols 1 & 2 (Blow up Records)

Various Artists – Blow Up presents Exclusive Blend Volumes 1 & 2
Blow Up (1996, 1997 r : 2007)

Joe Cool woke up. It was bright sunny day and he felt like a million dollars. He put on his shades (yep he was naked except for his shades) put on his flares (he went commando obviously) his best flowered shirt. Ran his hand through his hair and stepped out into the open. Oh yeah I forgot. Joe also grabbed EXCLUSIVE BLEND vols 1 & 2 and his discman.
The second he plopped the cd in he was surrounded by the most grooving Hammond flecked and phat funked tunes he’d ever heard. Vol 1 had 16 classic that made him swing his feet to the beat. He swirled to the sitar mania that was Delhi Discotheque. He bounced along to ‘Boogaloo Smith’ ( and it’s bass was HEAVY) The Stinky keyboards of ‘Tap Footer’ drove to a frenzy.
Then Joe noticed that girls were following him! They were digging this funky music! It escaped out of his headphones and like a super pheromone he was driving the ladies wild. Soon after ten minutes there was a full female congo line.
Joe then put in vol 2.
As soon as those chicks heard ‘White Elephant’ they went wild. Who would have known that archived music (or library music to me more precise) would have that affect? There was rhythm, style and man a beat so great you’d shake it all night long!
When Joe Cool heard the hand clapping Hammond body sawyer ‘Boss Man’ he thought. Yeah that’s me. The Boss Man. Life was great.
Then he woke.
Joe Fool had an awesome dream. He was listening to two of his fave compilations and was getting more attention than he ever needed. He had to face reality though. He got up, put his unwashed jeans over his unwashed boxers, put on his thick specs and some grubby to with three weeks of meals embedded in the threads. and went to the local job centre to collect his dole money. It was tough for him ever since he got fired. (reason : his work didn’t match the company’s so called standards) but he still slipped in EXCLUSIVE BLEND vol 1 in his discman and, yeah he felt like a prince grooving his way to the queue.

Morale of the story: go get the EXCLUSIVE BLEND compilations now! It will make your fantasies great and the real world permanently sunny.

Weekly Listening

So my album of the week goes to this gem

Dirty Projectors - Rise Above.

Basically the concept is very simple, DP lead singer David Longstreth decided to cover. ten tracks from Black Flag's 1981 alt classic Damaged. Allegedly ( and I believe this) he tried to remember the lyrics without referring to the album once.however it's the execution which is different. Dirty Projectors have been creating an interesting sound ( pauses, slowed down tribal beats, blasts of feedback, flutes etc also Longstreth sings in a strained falseletto) for quite some time and longstreth's current line up ( as it shifts for each album) give it all their best here. Although it isn't easy to get into at first. Rise Above is a very rewarding and melodic album. Plus it approaches covers the way I like them - destroy them completely.

Various - I'm not there.OST

Yeah didn't uncut release a double album of Bob Dylan covers three years ago and frankly why did Todd Haynes want a double album of covers when ( as i've read) none of these songs are even used in the Dylan biopic I'm not there? On the surface it seems like a vanity project but once you press play you're hooked.Thankfully there's a lot of quality here and each group puts their heart and soul in performing Dylan's songs. It's also worth noting that the tracklisting covers every period of Dylan's life so you'll get tracks from the basement tapes and his 80's albums.it's surpringly consistent with only one stinker and that's Karen O's cover of Highway 61 revisited. Other than that there's a lot to be treasured, The big standouts being Stephen Malkmus covering Maggie's Farm, Mark Lanegan's Version of Man in the Long Black Coat and Anthony and the Johnsons ( the only British musician on the whole roster) retake of Knockin's Heaven's Door. It is a hefty two and half hour listen but stick with it. Time will fly.

New music : The Indelicates

It's amazing how a song a make you a quivering wreck. Just one song can make you press the repeat button over and over and over until your index finger develops a blister. Then when you've heard that song one gazillion times you then discover other tunes that the band offers and they are equally great.

Enter The Indelicates.

I have been going crazy... no INSANE over the songs on these guys myspace page. This is pure guitar pop perfection. Harmonies, dizzyingly good melodies and loads of fun chucked in too!

The song that started it was the glorious sixteen. I mean how can you hate a song where the lyric that uses the words 'scene' and 'seen' so cleverly ( I can't quote. It has to be heard) add the boy/girl harmonies, the piano and guitars and you've got the catchiest song ever.

After that check out 'Julia we don't live in the 60's' a ditty with a ferocious jangle which will ensnare you from the first millisecond.

oh I can go on spouting hyperbole for this duo but really you have to listen to them :

http://www.myspace.com/theindelicates

now fall in love.

Review : Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Domino) 2007

Pump up the Jam!
Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
Domino (2007)

Nowadays the announcement of a new Animal Collective album isn’t just something to look forward to, it’s an event. Face it these guys are probably the greatest band of the 00’s and why not? Their freaky campfire sing-a-longs and avant-garde soundscapes have captured the hearts of a lot of people out there and each new release brings out some type of aspect from them which was lacking in the previous album (more on that later) They sound so fresh and innovative that you can’t help seeing why they are constantly name checked.

Their break through happened with 2004’s Sung Tong’s , where song structures started to creep in and the sample collage experiments of their previous records started to take the back seat. You noticed that instead of Stockhausen and Can being a major influence, The Beach Boys and The Beatles had their roles as well in their music.

By 2005’s ‘Feels’ everything was more or less in place. Sure I there were elements of their old material there but it was magical and held together nicely. Plus it had the song ‘Grass’, on it which proved that the ‘Collective can write ‘hits’ ( well in a parallel universe it would be a hit)

Now the band have signed to Domino and there were whispers of a more commercial album among the fans. Well forget that it’s crap. Strawberry Jam is the sound of a band that are enhancing every element that’s great about them. It’s still The Animal Collective but with a teensy bit more chucked in.

The first noticeable thing is that for the first time one can hear the vocals. Instead of the muffled voices and feral yelps of lore there’s actual words (and the yelps of lore too). In fact the voice plays the central role here, dominating the music at times. Whereas in the past most critics ( including myself) thought that Animal Collective’s magic lies in their multi instrumentation but they’ve proved us wrong for the umpteenth time.

Another bonus factor is that’s it’s got warm, homely, sugary and sticky melodies .In interviews head honcho Panda Bear has stated that the title can to his head first and then the band modeled the whole record on the concept of music being like Strawberry Jam. They succeeded.

Opener ‘Peacebone’ is the track which summarizes the feel of the whole album. Starting with a digital head mess and then easing it’s way into something children may dance to wildly at a kindergarten party. It balances naivety with technical know how and furthermore it’s uplifting and giddy. One thing I notice is that Animal Collective’s love for the Beach Boys really comes through, especially on ‘Fireworks’. Voices chime in and out over walls of beatific sounds.

I notice that every Animal Collective album has one track which wins you over and marvel at how special a band they are. In the case of ‘Strawberry Jam’ it has to be Reverend Green Sonically it’s no different than the other tracks here but it does contain that magic that encompasses the greatness of Animal Collective. With its shifting guitar and it’s whooping chanting of the track’s title will make you open your eyes and realize why they are so feted as a group.

Revolver, Pet Sounds , Forever Changes , Rock Bottom, Future Days , Medulla, Mirrored ; all albums which warped your perceptions on how a band are supposed to sound like and changed the idea of an album and Strawberry Jam is up there with the best. One can say that Animal Collective are a band one should preserve ( geddit? Tee hee hee)

New Artist : George Pringle

Dammit one of the joys of discovering a new artist (well she's been making music for a while now) is when the song just jumps out and attacks you like a rapid pitbull. George Pringle's music just does that. Beats just surge at your head and then Pringle nonchalant vocals and post modern lyrics spearhead each song so you're surrounded by her music.

The best thing is that in some other person's hands this could have easily been some type of arty wankery but Pringle holds everything together by her sheer sense of melody and non stop barrage of clicks, whirrs, beats and bloops. Plus the DIY feeling that runs through the tracks here just creates a more intimate and forceful presence.

Pringle's time will come and when it does i'll be prepared. Once the music pops it won't stop!

http://www.myspace.com/georgepringle

The Boy Least Likely to - New Songs

After a massive three year wait, one of my top indie pop bands, The Boy Least Likely to, have some new songs. Thank goodness that both these songs are excellent, which warantees a sophomore album which may improve on their already impeccable debut, 'The Best Party Ever'

The first song 'The Boy Least Likely to is a Machine' is far from mechanical and is just heartwarming from beginning to end. Sounding like a toybox version of Bowie's Scary Monsters (and super creeps) but injected with a Belle and Sebastian goodness, it already makes me feel optimistic about the band.

if you thought that song was good then the next one, 'A Balloon on a Broken String' is the best thing the band have ever recorded. Super Catchy, uplifitng, amazing and with added handclaps. It has every single element that makes TBLLT so loved. Yet it dipenses with the laid back whimsy of previous recordings and is more confident and has, dare I say, a swagger which they never displayed before.

Welcome back!

http://www.myspace.com/theboyleastlikelytouk

New Band : Ipso Facto

Gothy rocky! hauntingly good

http://www.myspace.com/ipsofactomyspace

New Music : Morning Bride

folky poppy

http://www.myspace.com/morningbride

The Wave Pictures

Off kilter lyrics and wonky catchy melodies.

great stuff


http://www.myspace.com/thewavepictures

Control (2007) : Dir Anton Corbijn

After 2003's 24 hour Party People (Michael Winterbottom) I thought that the Joy Division story was told and couldn't be expanded on.

It turns out that I was wrong. Corbijn's film is more about Ian Curtis than his band and that slant does provide fresh look at the story. A warning those who are expecting a rock star biopic will be disappointed. Control is a film about Ian Curtis' domestic life, relations and affairs. Most of the music side of his life is almost secondary.

One thing the viewer has to take into account is that the Corbijn used Curtis' wife's book "Touching from a Distance' as inspiration and as a basis for the whole picture. Thus the movie starts out with Curtis meeting Debbie and marrying her.

The film unravels slowly taking all the aspects of Curtis' life that have been documented upon, His epilepsy,depression with fame, his affair with Belgian fanzine writer Annik Honore and ultimately his suicide. The thing is that everything is very tastefully executed. Nothing crass. Corbijn treats these subjects sensibly with a sense of decorum.Yet Corbijn manages to make an intense film.

As far as acting goes, I cannot complain Samantha Morton shines as Curtis' prudish wife Debbie and Sam Riley ( once of Domino act 10,000 things) gives a sterling first performance and other characters such as Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton are presented as the dandy and rough working man respectively ( as in 24 hour party people) and there is a tiny bit of name dropping ( The Fall, Crispy Ambulance and in one scene Debbie picks up an NME with the famous Corbijn photo

of Ian smoking a cigarette.

My only real qualm is that maybe more scenes should have been devoted to Joy Division's rising popularity and the fact the the remaining members of Joy Division are protrayed as idiots. but this is a minor qualm and I ahven't seen any of the Dvd's extras as yet.

As biopics go this one has all the right elements and too boot it is beautiful to look at. I'm glad that Corbijn did not turn this into a 2 hour music video and one can see he took pains to get everything done perfectly. It's a great companion to 24 hour Party People (at least the Joy Division segment) and actually does make it look inferior. There will be another Curtis Biopic sometime next year and I can tell you now that it has to maintain quite a high standard to beat this one.

Album Review : Pete and The Pirates - Little Death (Stolen Recordings)

As one can see, lately guitar based bands are trying their hardest NOT to sound like a guitar based band? Gypsy folk, Italian funeral, Gospel and African folk are all sneaking, snaking and enmeshing themselves into more and more bands. The result? A group of innovative and distinct indie bands, yeah this always existed ( i mean post punk thrived on African influences) but now it's the media (and me I guess) are picking up on it.

But in a climate of Yeasayers,Beiruts, Gogol Bordellos and Vampire Weekends where does that leave the honest to gosh straight on guitar fuelled independent music? has the cross pollination made it to plain for our now refined ears?

Enter Pete and the Pirates

This Reading group have made one of the most traditional albums I've heard so far. Guitars, bass, drums and vocals. Verses, Choruses, Riffs and (albeit tiny) Solos. Yet it is one of the most arresting guitar rock album i've heard in these past two months and I have a feeling that this opinion will be with me long after 2008.

So what's the gimmick? what makes this album so great? why have I still jumped up and down and played air guitar even after listen number 50?

The trick is that there aren't any gimmicks. It's purely honest music. It's skeletal, rough and ready for action. A rollercoaster ride of instantly memorable tunes and the odd slow song to remind us that this band can pull off something sentimental. There's charm by the bucketload.

'Little Death's' main calling card starts very early with the near anthemic 'Come on Feet' The song lurches into action and does not even stop for a breath. Handclaps and a terrace chanting chorus. It's grand without the stench of grandeur and this ultimately is 'Little Death's' feel.Other tracks like 'Knots', 'Mr.Understanding' and closer 'Bright Lights' all display this sense of urgency. Pete and the Pirates are here to shake your ears and say 'drop everything, listen to us NOW and freak out'.

Compeltely unpolished, scruffy 'Little Death' provides a very healthy alternative to the polished complicated music that has been cropping up and we all know that we all need some type of breather. Pete and the Pirates are here to provide that.

Rough Trade Album Club

Yes I am a member. Every month I receive three next to awesome cds and listen to them obsessively. I guess I'll be listing and rating the selction. Here's February's pick :

Pete and the Pirates - Come on Feet - 8/10
Vampire Weekend - Self Titled - 9/10
Pilooski - Dirty Edits - 8/10

Next album club date will be 8th March.

Hercules and Love Affair

Haven't you been noticing that the DFA roster is improving? So far I've been buying every album release from the label and, not once, have I been disappointed. Now my latest DFA crush is on the up and coming Hercules and Love Affair. Combining disco beats with good tunes, this turn anything into gold (or maybe glitter) there's a smooth elegance in their whole schtick which gives them a classy edge. The new album's coming out on the 10th March so pencil that in your diaries.

http://www.myspace.com/herculesandloveaffair

New Band : Air Cav

Any Opinions?

http://www.myspace.com/aircavmusic

Weekly Listening

Various artists - Counter Culture '07 After 2006's rather weak compilation Rough Trade Shops decided to set up their own label and do the compiling with a label's help. The result is one of the strongest tracklisting since thhe 2004 edition. It's practically all new bands so there's a lot of fresh energy.Instead of the usual quiet cd and loud cd, this time round it's the listenable stuff on cd 1 and the avant garde, noisy/weird tracks on cd 2. Usually one cd is stronger than the other but now there's an equal consistency. My standout tracks on cd one are Pete and the Pirates - Come on Feet and on cd 2 Dan Deacon's The Crystal Cat.

Pete and the Pirates - Little DeathWow what a fun album. Straight on no nonsense guitar rock. Punchy choruses, quite good lyrics. There are 12 potential singles in this nifty debut and i bet you none of them will ever receive airplay.Anyways do check out this album - it's one of the first big ones of 2008

Pilooski - Dirty EditsPilooski is a french dj and on this record he takes covers and redoes them in a stratling manner. For example Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun is turned into a lounge track. Can's mother Sky is a full funk workout. Princes 1999 is revamped into a french touch song. The best thing here though is the remake of Frankie Valli's Beggin' which is AWESOME - a full dancefloor filler if there ever was one. Always innovative but never descending into novelty.

New Band : Letters from London

Maybe British guitar rock has finally learnt that you don't have to sound like the Libertines ( yeah i know that not all sound like them but a lot do!)

http://www.myspace.com/lettersfromlondon

New Band : Throw me the Statue

Ear friendly tunes

great choruses

Just listen!

http://www.myspace.com/throwmethestatue

Weekly Listening

Various Artists - Worried Noodles

This is an interesting experiment. Poet and artist David Shrigley wrote 40 poems and asked 40 musicians to cover his songs. In theory this could be a disaster but when your artists range from T.V. on the Radio to Franz Ferdinand you know that the results will be good. Most of the time it does work, scarily well. It seems that each band had a lot of fun sculpting music and singing Shrigley's warped and slightly perverted poems. Some of the standouts include Final Fantasy, YACHT, David Bryne and No Kids ( a side project of the group P:ano). There are some stinkers as well, most of them on the second disc but this collection should be checked out.





Richard and Linda Thompson - Shoot out the Lights

This is an album with a history. In the late 70's Richard and Linda Thompson were recording an album with Gerry Rafferty and it was an absolute mess. The duo scrapped the album and gave their demos to Joe Boyd ( Nick Drake's producer) Apparently the Boyd sessions sparked a lot of of creative juices and some new songs were recorded as well.

Thus Shoot the Lights was made.

It is a great album of beefy folk rock songs, Richard Thompson is a first class lyricist and good guitarist and his wife Linda knew how complement his music. Although the couple were having marriage problems and the lyrics are riddled with that imagry, it is worth noting that the songs were written in the mid seventies when there weren't any problems between the couple ( at least according to interviews and the forthcoming 33 1/3 book on the album)

This is an album which balances power and fragility in a brief half hour and should make it's way in every collection or at least be heard.





Justice - Cross

Six months old and this album actually sounds better! Although sometimes it can be a bit rough, Justice's debut album is an action non stop barrage of rough sounds, blazing techno and the odd 80's squiggle. Fun fun fun




No age - Weirdo Rippers

Now these guys are AMAZING. A whirlwind of guitars, feedback and noise. Yet underneath all the scuzz there are melodies blasting out of every corner. Weirdo Rippers is just a collection of No Age's vinyl singles and a couple of new tracks. a band that shows a lot of promise.

Book Review : Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats by Drew Daniel (33 1/3,No.54)

When I started reading Drew Daniel's volume on Throbbing Gristle's 'pop' experiment album , '20 Jazz Funk Greats', I had a bout of gastric flu. For two days straight, while reading the book, I suffered from the most agonising stomach aches and pains, known to mankind. I was weak and losing fluid. Not to mention the various toilet breaks I had to make. It was a very TG moment and im sure the whole band would be smirking if they read this (I can't help thinking that the author Drew Daniel - of musique concrete electronica group Matmos - would want to record the various stomach noises that were escaping from me)

I have to admit I am not a huge fan of Throbbing Gristle. The group, did, however have a great pop ear and when they used it I thought the results were excellent. United, Hot on the Heels of Love, the amazing walkabout.So I can tolerate (but not obsess about) 20 Jazz Funk Greats.

One also has to look deeper in the noise experiments that they made and when seeing the reason why they did atrocities as 'Slug Bait' and so on then you can see why their music makes so much sense and has gathered such a fanbase.

Anyway, the book itself is probably the most academic and well researched of the series. Daniel has also managed to interview all four members of TG, getting insights into the album from song meaings to production techniques. In short it's a nerdfest but a well written and interesting one. Personally I got a lot of insights on the album, which surprised me.

There is one drawback to the book. It is repetative. Daniel stuck to a certain type of research method and used it throughtout the book. Basically each chapter is devoted to a track, where Daniel first gives his own comments on the song, interviews all four members of TG and then gives us a more detailed breakdown on the track. This happens in every chapter and although it doesn't make boring reading, Daniel's style is too great to fall into that trap, but the reader will notice the pattern. It's not a flowing story.It is an analysis.

But this is a minor quirk. I enjoyed the tome immensely, I love it when an author's passion comes out in writing and it happens a lot here. Another worthy entry in the series.

Book Review :Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones by David Smay (33 1/3, No.53)

Tom Waits is one artist which I adore. At least once a year I will spend a month or so listening to most of his back catalogue (well from Swordfish onwards). When i'm in the mood his music will enrapture me and create false worlds sprouting up. While Swordfishtrombones is one record i like immensely my personal fave has to go to Blood Money.

I was curious to see how Smay would tackle the album and I admit I had doubts if one could pull off an appreciation of such a record and not sound arse-lickey or descend into tiresome Waits cliches ( his voice, his love for blues and so on)but I was amazed. Smay not only gives the reader a whole new angle on Waits but also manages to create the same feel as a Swordfish.... within his writing style. Sometimes dark, sometimes freaky, cool and casual. This is the true masterstroke of the book itself. Not only does Smay pay homage to Waits but also devotes chunks to the muse that saved Waits and made him the musician that he is today - his wife Kathleen.

Although Smay does not interview Waits and uses past articles as resources ( plus one e-mail interview with sleeve designer Michael Russ)he is well informed about Waits' life and shows a genuine love for Swordfishtrombones. I also liked the fact that his other albums are compared and critically assessed ( mostly Rain Dogs though)

After the mighty Celine Dion tome I was expecting a comedown but this book was a refreshing change. I wonder how Drew Daniel's volume about Throbbing Gristle will fare.

The Airborne Toxic Event

In theory I should hate The Airborne Toxic Event. Their sound is dated ( echo and the Bunnymen/Interpol etc etc) the songs are predictable and even the image is cliched (the black faux arty look) but dammit I fell in love with their songs. They swoop and soar and make you FEEL OH SO GOOD! there's a lot of power and guts in the four songs here ( especially this is nowhere) and they just shake you out of your seat.

I feel that given time this group will be dominating the world in someway

http://www.myspace.com/theairbornetoxicevent

Book Review : Celine Dion's Let's Talk about Love : A Journey to the end of Taste by Carl Wilson ( 33 1/3 , No. 52)

Celine Dion Encounter No 1

November 1994. I had just bought the double cassette compilation Now 29 ( I was a fourth former/eleventh grader - Cd's were a huge luxury back then) and I was liking it.In 1994 I had a 'like everything' attitude ( In a way I still wish I had that now) and I loved the first cassette - which was a mixture of rave and the first seeds of the Britpop movement, which absorbed me six months later oh yeah Louis Armstrong , New Order and the Rolling Stones featured . The second cassette focused more on Dancehall,soul and some chart pop. Right after a semi boring cover of Marvin Gaye's 'What's going on' there came the one and only song I hated on that compilation. Celine Dion's 'The Power of Love'. It was the most nauseating thing to ever assault my eardrums. Too dramatic, srupy, voice was way too high and it seemed to take ages to finish. As I hate skipping tracks or fast forwarding songs ( I believe in listening to something as a whole- something which has never changed) I would always cringe and shudder everytime I would hear Dion's voice introducing that ghastly ditty.

Celion Dion Encounter No 2

1996-1998

yes those two years were a dark period. I was in 6th form ( a sort of pre university course to train you for A levels) and I hated it. Obviously as perfect timing would have it, Dion released her Jim Steinmann produced 'It's all coming back to me now'Again I destested it,probably even more cause Dion invaded the radios, the 6th form canteen and every public place on this island. Yes there was a brief lull in 1997 but Dion rebounded with 'My Heart will go on', which was on mtv , blaring out of every car radio and of course, that musical cultural milieu called the 6th form canteen. I remember one particular tortorus session where the bus that took us to 6th form played Celine Dions 1997 opus 'Let's talk about love' in full. There was a traffic jam so we were lucky enough to hear it twice.

Celine Dion Encounter No 3

I'm browsing the 33 1/3 blog - Something I do on a daily basis and I find a youtube clip of Final Fantasy (aka Owen Pallet) covering... wait for it. 'The Power of Love. A full circle. This time round, However something dawned on me.

The song is good. It was the arrangements and delivery that irritated me in the past.

The youtube clip was part of 33 1/3's 52nd volume of it's ongoing series of books about music criticism (criticism in the loosest terms) . In this case the launch was for Carl Wilson's book on Celine Dion's 'Let's Talk about Love'.

Since I have every volume in the series ( in fact the Tom Waits and Throbbing gristle books are next and will each get a review in this blog) and I look forward to each one but I have to admit I was excited about this particular volume as 1) I read the first two chapters and thought they were first class 2) Wilson is actually talking about an album of an artist he cannot stand. Which is quite original as the past 51 volumes focus on albums that the particular author likes.

Wilson aim in the book's brief 164 pages is to critically reassess his view on Celine Dion. Why he and many others dislike her and alternatively why she is loved all over the world. In his quest he interviews fans , attends a concert and buys the album and reviews it and comes up with some interesting conclusions.

Personally I think that the sign of a good music crit book is when it manages to transcend it's main subject and give a more relative aspect and Wilson manages this perfectly. .In his 'Journey to the end of Taste' we learn about song culture in Quebec, the roots of popular music in general, the basis of fandom, objective and subjective criticism the globalisation of music in general and obviously taste.

What also is another plus point about the book is Wilson's impeccable prose. I could spend the rest of the day writing down the sheer quotability of nearly each line of the tome. There were many times where I was laughing out loud and then re-read the passage and laugh again. I simply adored the line

....until Titanic overturned all proportion and Dions' ululating tonsils dilated to swallow the world' ( pg 4)

and there are many more where that came from! Wilson has the knack of taking a complex subject and simplifying it without the subject losing any of it's potency. Take a peek on the treatise of taste in the last few pages of the book and you'll see that Wilson's proverbial pen is mightier than the sword.


'Let's Talk about Love : A Journey to the end of Taste' is one of the highpoints of the 33 1/3 series ( I would include Kim Cooper's book on Neutral Milk Hotel's In an Aeroplane Over the Sea, Alex Green's Book on the Stone Roses debut and Eliot Wilders' volume on Dj. Shadow's Entroducing). In every aspect. Content, writing and criticism. An excellent all rounder and a book that makes me appreciate and love the 33 1/3 series even more.

James Severy at Circus Circus

I just love it when you discover an artist and his tunes go on rotation in your head 24/7. I admit this happens to me quite a bit but then there are levels of obsession and James Severy's 'Do the Circus Circus' has driven me STARK RAVING MAD.

Starting out with a catchy as syphillis acoustic guitar riff and then evolving into a two penny hip hop beat it is one hell of an opening. The Severy's yelp enters and you're taken for a three minute journey.

on Severy's myspace http://www.myspace.com/jamessevery there are three other tracks and remix of do the Circus Circus and they are all great. Severy is clearly a poet and his plaintive pleas sound excellent with whimsical music. There's bucketloads of talent here and the fact that this guy's tunes have been soundtracking my weekend must mean something.

There isn't that much info but I can say one thing - TALENT

may you be infected with these songs!