Album Reviews - Apr 07

Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on http://www.native.tv in 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd

Feist - The Reminder
Polydor, April 25th 2007

‘I’m Sorry’ says Leslie Feist sweetly at the start of 'The Reminder'. We only put the CD on seven seconds ago and she's already apologising for it. There's really no need.

Feist is a Canadian singer/songwriter who hs performed in Broken Social Scene. Her previous album 'Let It Die' came out in 2004 and is thought to be one of Canada's best pop albums of the year (don't say a word).

In some places, Feist sounds heartbroken and her voice full of longing. 'I'm Sorry' bobs along on top of waves of female ‘ooohs’. It's grown up pop. In some places she reminds me of a young Edie Brickell, or perhaps Beth Hirsch (who sings on Air ‘Moon Safari’).

‘I Feel It All’ is distinctly more jangly and bouncy, almost enough to make you dance barefoot on the lino. When she sings ‘Wild card inside’ you think she could be talking about herself. The pictures show a stunningly beautiful young woman, full of natural poise, but with a slight reckless air.

‘My Moon My Man’ starts with a deep pianoline that reminds me a lot of the opening to Roxy Music ‘Love Is The Drug’. This gives it a simple and bluesy pace while her notes skip sweetly across the top. A dark power which begins to crash along complexly in the middle before returning to simplicity again.

‘The Park’ is an acousticky, birdsong led summer piece for lazing and drinking lemonade to. Listen to the words though, and it’s the tale of a mistaken love, full of sadness and painful longing. ‘The Water’ is even slower and carries a gentle warning of danger.

The smooth reggae start to ‘Sealion’ is a mild, unexpected shock to the system. Then this one turns into a bluesy rocker, although someone is accidentally treading on a Fisher Price keyboard slightly out of reach. It’s an oddity, but we’re brought back to earth with the country twangs of ‘Past In Present’. ’The Limit To Your Love’ has shades of Velvet Underground in the drone start , but it turns out to be very grown up and pleasant.

‘1234’ has quite a quirky tone to it, with the lovely little line ‘’Sweetheart bitterheart now I can’t tell you apart’. ‘Intuition’ has a slow, fingerpicking style and Feist near howls in some places. Her voice has a wavering strength to it, at once vulnerable and powerful. ‘Honey Honey’ has a train noise of backing vocals, but it’s pleasantly catchy in a floaty way. ‘How My Heart Behaves’ benefits from some sweeling chords and Scandinavian-ish vocals.

The lyrics are frankly a bit chick-lit in places, but the music is sweet and heartfelt. ‘We’re slaves to our impulses / We’re afraid of our emotions / And no one knows where the shore is / We’re divided by the ocean.’ (‘So Sorry’) It's a beautiful album of sophisticated pop.

Visit her website: Feist

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Robyn - Robyn
Konichiwa Records , 2nd April 2007

As an excitable teen some years ago, I remember kneeling in front of the video recorder and getting ready to tape Air on The Ozone. Then a pretty blonde Scandinavian appeared and asked us to show her love, show her life, baby show her what it's all about. It was quite nice. Then Air came on and we forgot about her. But she's back. This is Robyn, originally a pop star and signed to a major record company at 13. She became disillusioned with the lack of control she had and bought herself off the label. Interesting...

Fast-forward a few blurry years and here's her album, also titled 'Robyn'.

Konichiwa! The mood is set nicely with a little amusing spoken word piece. Turn it the fuck up, like you're told. There are some hip hop beats whispering in the background - unexpected, but not unwelcome. And then signature tune 'Konichiwa Bitches' launches and we're thrown into a world of fizzing bleeps, electronic twinkles, sweet raps, segments of garage, humourous lyrics and pop fun.

It's entertaining. Robyn's got a cute voice but she's also streetwise with it. There are bass roars in 'Cobrastyle' which reminds me of Gwen Stefani's kid sister. Girly rapping over sexy street pop. 'Handle Me' sounds like a Pussycat Doll who is actually good at her job.

"You're always up to no good" begins 'Bum Like You', a song demonstrating she can sing as well as rap. "My favourite thing to do is wasting my time with a bum like you." Er, thanks for the compliment. 'With Every Heartbeat' is more of a slowy, with synthesised emotions and mournful violins with very 80s drums and shimmering sounds scything through the air. 'Who's That Girl' is an amazingly sexy modern track about the pressure of living up to image expectations.

'Crash And Burn Girl' has a real disco feel to it with thumping beats - this is one of the standout tracks. 'Eclipse' is another thoughtful ballad - "some words are left unspoken... and it all just falls apart" - while 'Should Have Known' and 'Anytime you Like' are soft wind-down tracks after the earlier electronic excesses. 'Robyn' has echoes of Sugababes, Girls Aloud, that kind of sparkling sunshiny pop with attitude. It's sweet, pure pop with joy and brains; like having a party on a cloud with laser lights flashing everywhere. Yaay.

Visit Robyn's website

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Reliant K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago
Parlophone, 2nd April 2007

Take a look at the cover for Relient K's 'Five Score And Seven Years Ago'. Looks like there was an offer on parkas at their local market. It's slightly disarming. Parkas are generally associated with indie or pub rock, where as this band playes the sort of music usually sung by nice boys in skinny jeans.

Relient K aren't a new band, far from it. 'Five Score...' is their fifth album in seven years (er, hence the title).

There's a nice soft opening for this with African style drumbeats and Beach Boys harmonies on 'Pleading The Fifth (A Cappella)', one of the shortest songs in the world. 'Come Right Out And Say It' has shades of Busted, with nice boy vocals over crunching American rock guitars. This album would be good for fans of Fall Out Boy, +44, Panic! At The Disco, that whole ilk of US pop punk acts, which to the untrained ear (ie mine) all sound the same. I'm sorry, but they honestly do.

'I Need You' is a needle-sharp rocker, followed by the dramatic piano and furious drums of 'The Best Thing.' "I always knew I'd find someone. I never dreamt it would be like this."

The album is full of slightly soppy, downbeat lyrics of love sought, love held onto, love lost. A little on the emotional side. 'Forgiven' is full of hypertension threading through the track, although the chorus gets a little soft and warm which was a bit of a disappointment.

'Must Have Done Something Right' opens with the line "We should get jerseys. Cause we make such a great team. But yours would look better than mine. Cause you're out of my league." Once I'd finished banging my head on the keyboard at the feeble absurdity of this, I enjoyed the tune and the curious chord changes, harmonies and summery feel. At least they have the decency to finish this with 'I know that it's so cliche'. Thank heavens for that. 'Give Until There's Nothing Left' has gorgeous, dreamy keyboards and is a stand-out ballad.

'Devastation And Reform' is, well, along the same lines as the other songs. Downbeat lyrics, and I'm afraid by this point I was wishing the album was done. But it's not a bad record. It's driving down the dusty highway, windows open, yelling along kinda music. But I live in the UK, where the only rainfall is smack-bang on the motorways and you can't drive above 20mph because there's a lorry on your bonnet and White Van Man is trying to accelerate up your arse. It doesn't feel right.

'Faking My Own Suicide' has a distinct country twang to it, a nice happy bounce to it. 'Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care' wins an award for the best titled song on the album, and in fact it takes longer to say than the song lasts. The song itself runs a little like this: "I just wasted ten seconds of your life." And that's it. If ever I had an urge to take a CD out and microwave it, it's now. 'Up And Up' thankfully has reasonably optimistic lyrics; it's the feel-good track where Thiessen realises he's lifted by love. "Contentment is all that it entails. To be content with where I am, and getting where I need to be."

Oh hell, the last track is 11 minutes long. It's called 'Deathbed', and not only is it of 'Ulysses'-length but it also manages to mention God, lung cancer, underage alcoholism, nicotine additiction, forced marriage, divorce and forgiveness, all wrapped up in a story of pure misery and morals from a dying person which made me wonder why anyone would listen to it for fun. I think it's trying to be their 'November Rain', but Axl has been replaced with some whining dullard (any change?) and Slash has forgotten his guitar solo. To be honest, I enjoyed the line "I bowled about 6 times a week," because either that's slang for getting completely mullered or his life was ruined by ten pins and those badly fitting shoes you get.

Any tension or sadness built up in the songs is dissipated by the bouncy music and the warmth of the guitar chords, and that's what makes it a bit samey. The permanent liveliness is a bit grinding for those who aren't fans of the genre.

It's solid, fun US punk pop, and if you're into that kind of non-threatening stuff you can't go wrong with 'Five Score And Seven Years'.

To visit Relient K's site click here

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Various Artists - A Tribute To Joni Mitchell
Nonesuch Records, 23rd April 2007
Features Sufjan Stevens, Bjork, Caetano Veloso, Brad Mehldau, Cassandra Wilson, Prince, Sarah McLachlan, Annie Lennox, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, James Taylor

Now I have to confess it’s not very often I pick up an album featuring songs by Annie Lennox and Bjork. There's nothing wrong with them, I just struggle to get into their music. Both artists, plus Prince, Sarah McLachlan and Emmylou Harris amongst others, have contributed tracks to 'A Tribute To Joni Mitchell'. But don't let that put you off.

Even with my apparently dubious taste in indie music, I know who Joni Mitchell is. Poetic and folky singer-songwriter, her best known song is probably 'Big Yellow Taxi' but there's also 'Both Sides Now' and 'Blue'. She's often considered one of the best of her generation. Mitchell no longer tours, but announced last autumn that she was recording new material, so I guess this is a reminder and an attempt to whet our appetites for her next songs.

‘Free Man In Paris’ is a jaunty yet thoughtful song by Sufjan Stevens, gently sweeping. It's an amazing start. Bjork performs ‘The Boho Dance’ - incidentally the title of her film 'Dancer In The Dark' is taken from the lyrics of 'Blue' - and sings it delicately with warmth yet curiosity. Caetano Veloso has interesting vocals, giving a 60s Latin beat to 'Dreamland' which we could imagine samba-ing to.

‘Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow’ (Brad Mehldau) is strong yet soft and is followed by ‘For The Roses’, an acoustic piece by a man who appears to be called Cassandra (Wilson). Prince’s ‘A Case Of You’ is a kind ballad, and Sarah McLachlan’s version of ‘Blue’ can only be described as stunningly beautiful.

Annie Lennox’s climactic ‘Ladies Of The Canyon’ is one of the album high points, along with Sufjan and Elvis Costello’s brooding ‘Edith and the Kingpin’. Emmylou Harris brings some downbeat country to 'The Magdalene Laundries'.

K.d. lang livens it up with some brisk beats and strong vocals over the soothing music. The Good King Wencelas-ness of end track ‘River’, here performed by James Taylor, doesn’t seem entirely seasonally-appropriate for a spring/summer release, but there you go.

The songs are winsome, plaintive, thoughtful, deep and poetic. There's a curious retro sound to many of them, that haunting quality which many 1960s/70s tracks display, and are written and performed with intelligence.

"I thought there should be a purpose to every track: each should be a reinvention or an homage, or be performed by an artist who was a part of Joni's life or whom I knew she admired, or whose life was changed by Joni," says producer Bob Hurwitz in the press blurb.

There are a range of top names on this album and Joni purists should not be ashamed of tracks being covered - it’s good piece of work from excellent musicians.

To visit the Joni Mitchell site click here

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Various Artists - Something I Learned Today
Dance To The Radio , 2nd April
Features Grammatics, I Was A Cub Scout, Read Yellow, Sky Larkin, Foreign Born, Voltage Union, Disco Drive, Laura Groves, : ( , Ghost Fleet, Sometree, AnteAter, Lions Of SWE, This Et Al, Black Wire

WELiKECOMPiLATiONS. Previous Dance To The Radio ones have been responsible for introducing us to ¡Forward, Russia!, the Pigeon Detectives, Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames, Yes Boss, iLiKETRAiNS and others guaranteed to make us dance (and other office colleagues to aim elastic bands in our direction). If you're unfamiliar with the bands, it's always an exciting surprise finding out what you're getting. So here's Something I Learned Today, the first of two DTTR compilations scheduled for the first part of this year.

"And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office." We reviewed this Grammatics song when it appeared on our desk the other week. Guitars being struck like matches, soft cello, Jaws bass and quirky time changes make this one hell of an opener. I Was A Cub Scout is up next - fast and soft (how we like it...) with electronic pulses giving an eerie tone and dancing cymbals. Read Yellow are from the States, a fair way from DTTR's home of Leeds, but their piece of indie rock jostles its way in and fits well. It's called 'Pia Zadora'. We thought he was a footballer. She's a famous actress. Oh the shame.

Next come one of our recent faves, the charming Sky Larkin. This is a nice indie rocker, which bounds along happily and has earned them comparisons to the Long Blondes before (in that they have a female vocalist, presumably). Foreign Born are an attractive clash of guitars and percussion which meet in a heap before regrouping for another attack. Voltage Union sound mildly like Razorlight at the start, turn into Bromheads Jacket stamping on a vintage keyboard, and finish as their own sweaty selves.

If you don't like complicated, different, tangled indie music with lashings of electronica and fast guitars, then why are you even reading this far? The other acts include Disco Drive with their Sunshine Undergroundy indie-dance tracks, the sweet tones of teenager Laura Groves who - according to the blurb - "writes songs for various instruments, some of which she can play and some of which she can't (but tries to anyway)," : ( or 'colon open bracket' and their pop punk, electronic noise mash, and the Ghost Fleet girls are "dreaming of a break up" through the dense fog of 'Shattered'.

Berliners (not as in the JFK sense) Sometree gently pad through 'One Man Shelter' before turning it into a dark thrilling mystery witha large presence. ¡Forward, Russia!'s Tom sneaks in as AnteAter to bring us some electronic pie before jumping up and down sparking dangerously. Lions Of SWE come charging through with their noisy Swedish ways making one hell of a racket, though that's no bad thing.

This Et Al play a roaring melodramatic race against the clock and we suggest you look out for them in the future. 'Something I Learned Today' closes with Black Wire 'See The Blood', a dark and brooding piece of indie rock where you feel all but obliged to stand up and clap along.

We think this album is fucking ace, if you can please excuse our use of the word 'ace'. Way better than 'Now - Whatever Number' and a great indicator of what musical times are fast approaching on the distant horizon...

To visit the Dance To The Radio site click here
Something I Learned Today MySpace