» FEBRUARY// A SUMMARY/

FEBRUARY// A SUMMARY/

FEB: A summary
words: Jamie Milton

This month has been really difficult. February always is, when I look back on the last couple. Sure, I’m lucky enough to be able to celebrate Valentines Day and my anniversary four days before but surrounding that week (which is pretty stressful as it is) is a bombardment of lack of self-confidence, multi-tasking and this month, I began learning to drive. The first lesson I probably nearly ran over four innocent toddlers driving home. The second was a little more easy on the head. But February’s troubles haven’t been assisted with the best music…

Morrissey’s return was more than welcomed – a couple of moments on ‘Years of Refusal’ in particular saw him at his best for some time. Elsewhere, there wasn’t much to be impressed by. In terms of his previous solo work though, this really hit the spot. Beirut also arrived with a double EP. Again, some good, some bad. I think it was a drownedinsound review that once cited the regularly-used Sven Goran Eriksson comment after every England football match; “First half, good. Second half…not so good…” to describe an album. That comment hasn’t been more appropriate than next to Empire of the Sun’s debut. They remain a new band with a hell of a lot of potential but ultimately their album is well and truly drunk with desperation halfway through that it’s the most un-pleasurable listen of the year so far.
What else? Lily Allen implemented her case for world domination with ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You’, a quirky, fully-pop album that cemented the success of her debut. She’s already a superstar, but songs like ‘The Fear’ will only improve that. N.A.S.A entered the blogosphere with a plethora of hyped-up artists. Without their name, ‘Welcome To Apollo’ would have been dismissed with a blink of an eye had it not been for the couple of David Byrne tracks. But because it features David Byrne, Tom Waits and Santigold, everybody gets a little bit excited over nothing. That’s just a little bit wrong. Pitchfork’s review was controversial but pretty fantastic.
The pick of the bunch was the Red Hot Compilation courtesy of The National. Big names also featured heavily on that but in contradt to N.A.S.A, there was a whole lot of substance to add to the enticing CD case sticker. If you’re a good person inside, you’ll buy it.

February’s picks, in score order:

Dark Was The Night – 8.0
Beirut – MOTZ/Realpeople Holland - 6.5/7.8 (review 1, review 2)
Emmy The Great – First Love – 7.4
Morrissey – Years of Refusal – 6.8
Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You – 6.0
N.A.S.A – Welcome To Apollo – 5.5
Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream – 5.2 (review)