Initial Thoughts: Los Campesinos! – Romance Is Boring

Words: Gareth O’Malley

What a couple of years it’s been for Los Campesinos!, that hyper-productive Welsh (despite none of its members actually being from Wales) seven-piece. Two albums and an extended EP in two years. They don’t think of last October’s ‘We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed’ as an album, and while it is a crucial piece in the puzzle, as it is the bridging point between ‘Hold On Now, Youngster’ and their forthcoming ‘Romance Is Boring’, it lacked that sense of real cohesion that second albums tend to have – though it was brilliant nonetheless.

One thing is clear to the listener even before RIB’s opener ‘In Medias Res’ finishes: They are not what they used to be. The only link between the debut and the follow-up is Gareth Campesinos!’ stunning lyrics, which have lost none of their wit or impact over the years, despite the fact that he’s now concerned with things quite far removed from dancing and K Records t-shirts; like ‘death and decay of the human body, sex, lost love, mental breakdown, football and, ultimately, that there probably isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel’.

Heavy stuff indeed, and yes, the lyrics seem quite dark and unsettling at points, as on the opener, which finishes with the truly depressing, ‘If you were given the option of dying painlessly, peaceful at 45 / With a lover at your side, after a full and happy life / Is this something that would interest you…? / Would this interest you at all?‘ Coupled with Gareth’s desperate vocals, it makes for a truly heartwrenching finish.

As well as this, the band are in fine form musically. The melodies captured here are the best they’ve written to date; case in point, the title track and second single; the stunning ‘We’ve Got Your Back (Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #2)’. I think I might have already found my Song of the Year for 2010, as something truly spectacular is going to have to come along to beat what I think is Los Campesinos!‘ best song so far, ‘I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed, Just So You Know’.

They are quite far from their roots now, and the band have just kept getting better. From their first EP ‘Sticking Fingers Into Sockets’ to now, it’s been a remarkable journey. An entire album of emotionally charged songs like ‘The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future’ really would have been too much to bear, for when the septet go for raw emotion here, as they do on album closer ‘Coda: A Burn Scar In The Shape Of The Sooner State’, the effect is devastating. The song, with its refrain of ‘I can’t believe I chose the mountains every time you chose the sea’, seems to encapsulate everything they have become.

The album’s definitely going to stand the test of time over the next twelve months, for a collection of songs this good is going to be difficult as hell to sweep aside. A real contender for 2010.

Initial Thoughts rating: 9.0

mp3: The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future

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Initial Thoughts: Delphic – Acolyte

words: Gareth O’Malley

Seeing a band crushed under the weight of their own hype… There are few things more depressing to the music fan. For instance, Glasvegas had a good thing going for them – granted, their debut was far from the masterpiece many thought it to be – but it now seems they have faded, and need a masterstroke to save them from condemnation in the wake of what may well be their clichéd ‘difficult second album’.

Then there are those that keep their head above water and keep the flood-tides of praise from pushing them under. Notable examples from this year include Animal Collective and La Roux – both producing two entirely different but equally wonderful records.

The first example of such a band casting off the shackles of hype in 2010 is undoubtedly Delphic. When going into ‘Acolyte’ for the first time, do yourself a favour and leave your preconceptions of the band’s sound at the door.

This is by far a more atmospheric – and even euphoric – album than its singles suggested. Its title track is a wonderful nine-minute trip, swept along by strings and soft vocals. Surefire single ‘Halcyon’ has the best chorus they’ve written to date, and the raw power of ‘Clarion Call’ makes for a perfect opening.

‘Acolyte’ does not fall into the trap that most debuts do. That is, it does not seem to stick to one idea throughout its course. More than half of the album’s tracks are what I would consider growers. Things are in the process of clicking as I type this, and herein is where the record’s real strength lies. An absolute cracker – and that’s after only three listens.

Initial Thoughts rating: 8.8

Watch: Halcyon (Later… With Jools Holland performance)

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Initial Thoughts: Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind EP

It seems funny that Animal Collective choose to release their music for the grimmest of months. January and December – the start of winter and the end of warmth. Their songs are sun-appropriate, uplifting, life-affirming and yet every time I listen to ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’, it works best when I’m chilly. ‘Fall Be Kind‘ sweetly infuses abstract patterns with the deep bass notes and striking vocal harmonics that helped define the previous album. Only on ‘Fall Be Kind’ we get to see a real significant shift towards less pacey, pop-orientated territory. It’s not their most accessible work to date – ok, it’s nothing on the band’s early material, but it certainly falls back on old times after the infectious instant likability of ‘MPP’ allowed certain “sell out” accusations to gather force.

In many ways these songs sound more comfortable when associated with ‘Feels‘; they’re elongated, evolving and far from straight to the point. Opener ‘Graze‘ allows an almighty sound shift in its latter half, from smooth, deep cries of triumph to tip-toeing percussion and a tribal party spirit. This isn’t quite ‘Feels’ with more gadgets though: ‘What Would I Want? Sky’ is very much amongst the three-piece’s latest work, crafting a Grateful Dead sample with an exquisite vocal performance from Avey Tare. There are lyrics, there’s a hook that keeps and it’s all formed with samplers. This is more Brothersport than Leaf House.

But it’s still a sure-fire exit from the material of late. And that sort of move could be judged as moronic or merely, the right thing to do. Animal Collective are never going to be chart toppers. More likely, they’ll be a group looked upon in decades to come as innovators, opinion-splitters, forward-thinkers. And so to continue upon this route of shortening the song length, tightening the ropes, would be a poor choice. After all, when have Animal Collective ever decided to stick to the same sound over the course of more than one release? Never.

Initial thoughts rating:

8.5

Take Three
- Graze
- What Would I Want? Sky
- I Think I Can

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Initial Thoughts: Arctic Monkeys – Humbug

Exclusive Initial Thoughts Review: Arctic Monkeys – Humbug

Words: Gareth O’Malley

One thing becomes clear when you’re listening to the new Arctic Monkeys record, and that thing is that it is going to split their fanbase in a major way. Whereas the casual listener, or the fan of the band’s poppier material, would find most of 2007’s ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ to be right up their street, they will be left feeling disappointed by ‘Humbug’, for it is songs like ‘If You Were There, Beware’ (a song quite different to anything on that album and a world away from just about anything on ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ – except ‘Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But…’) and quite a few of that record’s b-sides that have influenced the band’s shift in sound.

Produced by James Ford (who worked on ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’) and a man you might have heard of, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, ‘Humbug’ is a natural progression for the group, quite ‘full-on’ at times, as they hinted it would be. It contains some of the heaviest songs the band have written, and also, at the other end of the spectrum, some of the most delicate. This reviewer is pleased with the results. I wanted them to write more songs in the style of ‘Brianstorm’ and the aforementioned ‘If You Were There, Beware’, to rock out a bit more, and they have. There are only a handful of what you would call ‘immediate’ tracks here, and I find that to be a good thing, as I love a record that reveals itself to you over time. I find that every aspect of the band’s sound has improved, particularly Alex Turner’s lyrics, as you’ll see below.

Shuffled///

Reviews of three randomly-selected tracks from ‘Humbug’

#1 – Dance Little Liar

Boasting one of the strongest melodies on the album, and a track on which focus shifts to the rhythm section – Matt Helders’ drums are quite impressive here – ‘Dance Little Liar’ is probably my favourite song on the record after a few listens. “I’m sure it’s clear and plain to me, it’s not an alibi you need,” is the choice lyric here. The soaring chorus gives way to quite an impressive guitar solo. A final repeat of the chorus, and the drums take centre-stage as the song gradually fades out. A contender for the best thing the band have written.

86%

#2 – Cornerstone

Clearly influenced by ‘Fluorescent Adolescent b-side ‘I Wish You Would Have Smiled In The Bakery’, ‘Cornerstone’ is an obvious choice for a single. Built around an acoustic guitar, this is also another new direction for the group. The song contains what, for the moment, are the best lyrics on the album, namely these lines: “I elongated my lift home / Yeah, I let him go the long way ’round / I smelt your scent on the seatbelt, and kept my shortcuts to myself”. Wonderful, and the delivery is great, too. It’s easy to see that The Last Shadow Puppets influenced this album somewhat, as I doubt tracks like this and ‘Secret Door’ would have emerged from the recording sessions otherwise.

80%

#3 – Dangerous Animals

“Pinned down by the dark…” An a capella introduction heralds a fantastic riff that draws you in straight away. Of the album’s first three tracks, this song is the most upbeat of the three. It showcases an altogether darker side to the Monkeys than what we’ve heard before. “Fighting with my sheets / I’m nearly crying in my sleep,” Turner admits, in a voice that has definitely changed, influenced, no doubt, by the time he spent working on his The Last Shadow Puppets side-project. Nick O’Malley’s bass is quite prominent in this track, but the focus is clearly on the lyrics. “When the arcrobat fell off the beam, she broke everyone’s heart” is the pick of bunch. I’m not too sure about Turner spelling out the song title during the chorus, but the rest of the song is good enough for it not to bother me much.

84%

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F A I R I E S

INITIAL THOUGHTS: Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
words: Jamie Milton

2006’s Mercury nominated ‘Fur and Gold’ thrilled us all, notably for its intelligence, sophistication but most of all its suggestion of something more. With 3 more years to her name, Natasha Kahn’s spent the last 12 months supporting Radiohead and attempting to create an all the more impressive second album, to confirm many a person’s prediction on just how special she might become.
Lead single ‘Glass’ has an equally sparse full band background contribution as that on Kahn’s debut, with perhaps a darker atmosphere emerging from the full product. Lurking inside is the sort of mystifying, natural imagery that we’d expect to be tucked into the lyrics and as an opening track to ‘Two Suns’, it continues Kahn’s speciality of teasing her listener into wondering whether there’s better to come.
—————————————————————
SHUFFLED///
To get a very quick impression of what’s in store, we’re going to type ‘Two Suns’ into our iTunes so that we can put the record on shuffle. The first three tracks that emerge will get a quick-fire review and an initial percentage rating. Simple.

Peace Of Mind

Travelling Woman

Ok so nothing as of yet contains the beauty and elegance of ‘Horse & I’, nor the gloriously melodic chorus of ‘Prescilla’. Kahn sounds more to have stuck to a motto of experimenting to create something potentially incredible. She hasn’t given herself time to settle; whether that proves a decent tactic to play will be decided with a few listens. One thing that’s already emerged however is substance, and lots of it.

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INITIAL THOUGHTS: YEARS OF REFUSAL

S P A N I S H
B O M B S

INITIAL THOUGHTS: Morrissey – Years of Refusal
words: Jamie Miltontop photo: i am klaus

2009’s been a blissful year so far. So many tiny little fortunate events are occuring for me. Today it snowed (a rarity in Brighton) for example, another example being I got to hear the new Morrissey album for the first time yesterday.

Not budging from a common style of verse-uplifting chorus (repeat), the majority of ‘Years of Refusal’ won’t be drawing in any new fans to Mozza’s delightful accounts of ironic self-adoration, not that he needs them anyway. You’ll be pleased to hear that the previously released ‘All You Need Is Me’ and ‘That’s How People Grow Up’ aren’t by any standards the highlights on an album consisting largely of occasionally-Spanish-guitar-led full band movements that are essentially more sophisticated than any Smiths songs, all the less lacking that finer edge that originally lured all to Morrissey’s finer qualities. Again, what we’d come to expect.

So no, this isn’t groundbreaking. Nor is it full of surprises. With one small exception; between the traditional belches of loathing towards the world (“there is no love in modern life” being a notable lyric), comes a breath of fresh air in ‘It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore’. It diverts from the common songwriting stance Mozza tends to adopt and instead opts for a frank account submerged in an atmospheric smoke. It’s chart-worthy, Take That-esque? in its chorus but all the better for it and ultimately more appealing than anything else on the album.

mp3: Morrissey – I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris (zshare)
mp3: Morrissey – It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore (zshare)
[Pre-order 'Years of Refusal']

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I’M
G O N N A
D A N C E

INITIAL THOUGHTS: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
words: Jamie Milton
top photo: i think it’s beautiful that you are 256 colors too

Websheriff, your efforts to protect the leak of this album were not in vain; continue working hard on Andrew Bird etc. because you actually put almost every blogger off posting tracks from the record.

But as you probably know WB, most of us have heard ‘Merriweather…’ by now and most of us are more than impressed. Perhaps the efforts made to shorten the inevitable early-release of this album were because those involved with the album were fully aware of the hype surrounding it, purely on the basis of two live versions of two tracks. On record, ‘Brothersport’ and ‘My Girls’ will be cited by many as the highlights on Animal Collective’s latest album because when put to the studio both tracks have become more lively, more effective but also more dense. And “dense” might just be the most mentioned word in any description of ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’ come next year, along with “bassy”. So much occurs between the samplers of Panda Bear and Geologist, all whilst Avey Tare is consistently delivering inspired, tropical vocal yelps (not as rough and gritty as those on ‘Strawberry Jam’ however). But it’s one of those albums in which through each listen you ask your self how you hadn’t found an integral element to the song that seemingly just wasn’t there on the previous listen. There’s more to discover each time round.

And some are even going as far as calling the “end of year lists” of 2009 a pointless process, with this likely to top the majority of them. The competition’s over, people. My god that might actually be true; AC have changed their sound dramatically. None of their previous albums’ roots have been plugged in to sockets but this time round there are sparks of gadget-made energy. Every sample correlates but every track has something more to give. It’ll go down as the band’s most accesible album to date; it turns the choral, summery spirit of Panda Bear’s ‘Person Pitch’ into something shorter and altogether poppier, particularly evident in a song like ‘Summertime Clothes’, a joyous, non-sensical wave of beach-scenery in the form of music, clocking in at four minutes and a half and with a definite chorus.

But most importantly, it’s still experimental and it’s certainly blended sounds together in the way that no other album has to date in the 21st century – aka. ever.

mp3: Animal Collective – My Girls [zshare]

[Pre-order 'Merriweather Post Pavilion', even if it's just for the artwork]

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INITIAL THOUGHTS – Of Montreal – Id Engager
words: Jamie Milton

‘Hissing Fauna…’ was obviously to good to move on from. Being Of Montreal, of course there’s a giant movement of variety from the tracks on their previous album but the general theme of high-pitched screams and jerky bass-lines kept together by a bold groove is still very much among ‘Id Engager’, thank God.

Compact and camp, it’s the album closer for our most anticipated remaining album release of the year, ‘Skeletal Lamping’ and for some reason, the first single taken from the record. It’s more ‘We Were Born The Mutants Again’ than ‘She’s A Rejector’ – no stand-out chorus and it gives out that overall feeling of discomfort that we’ve grown to love, a satisfying “side-effect” of the tireless, active feeling in Kevin Barnes and co’s songs. As Barnes suggested in an interview, there’s an awful lot going on in and around the structure of the piece, it’s anything but traditional.

On the outlook, it’s without any darker themes that could make the song even stronger in the process. Barnes has moved on from talk about his divorce to talk about ninjas. But again, that’s a good thing. It sounds as if Of Montreal are going to give us the funnest ride so far out of their nine-record span.

PLAY: Of Montreal – Id Engager [Of Montreal discography]

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