As usual our weekly round up of the albums that
Piccadilly Records have been recommending.
If you want to listen to samples of the tracks from the albums you can search the
Piccadilly Records site. A link can be found on the side of this page as well as suggestions to other sites you may find useful.
Alternatively, we have provided links to each artists Myspace and website page so you can check them out.
PICCADILLY RECORDS – RECOMMENDED ALBUMS
(W/C 12/05/08)
Ass : Ass
Headspin
After half a decade of living room recordings whilst backing up the Swedish top list artists, versatile punk rocker and instrumentalist Andreas Söderström finished this his debut record as Ass (Andreas Soderstrom Solo) in 2006. This modernistic debut is a mainly instrumental folktronic journey into a soundscape of multilayers performed entirely by Andreas himself. Self tutored amongst the jungle of strings in his father's bouzouki factory, Andreas is a familiar bearded face in the Swedish alternative music scene. Over the past years Andreas has played bass with multi-awarded pop princess Jenny Wilson, trumpet and lapsteel with the internationally renowned electronica project Tape, and harmonium, key harp and guitar with the folk project Blood Music.
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/assmyassAss : My Get Up And Go Just Got Up And Went
Headspin / Static Caravan
Ass is the work of Andreas Soderstrom. Soderstrom plays all of the instruments found on this quietly intoxicating 10 track record, the follow up to his astonishingly assured, eponymous debut – both released on Headspin Recordings. It finds him hacking through the folk undergrowth, his fluid dynamic underpinning a stark melancholy which simmers throughout. From the Britfolk fingerpicking of "I've Been Here" to the austere "Cool Water", the self taught multi instrumentalist wrings a plaintive beauty from his fingers; penning profoundly moving, largely non vocal entities, augmented at various points by electronic gurgles, horns and an accordion. Channelling a hypnotic style which is at times reminiscent of folk legends such as Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and John Fahey, his crisp compositions nevertheless have an ultra modernist edge to them, digital elements seeping through and sounding perfectly at home, but with a softly engaging feel rather than the clinical hum of technology. "My Get Up And Go Just Got Up And Went" is that rare kind of record; bewitching and thought provoking, comforting and challenging. It's a real treat, and a chance to hear the whispered charm of a subtly disarming performer.
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/assmyassBon Iver : For Emma, Forever Ago
4AD
Big, big news from across the pond, this is already shaping up to be THE album of the year. Bon Iver (pronounced: bohn eevair; French for 'good winter' and spelled wrong on purpose) is a greeting, a celebration and a sentiment. It is a new statement of an artist moving on and establishing the groundwork for a lasting career. "For Emma, Forever Ago" is the debut of this lineage of songs. As a whole, the record is entirely cohesive throughout and remains centred around a particular aesthetic, prompted by the time and place for which it was recorded. Justin Vernon, the primary force behind Bon Iver, seems to have tested his boundaries to the maximum, and in doing so has managed to break free from any pre-cursing or finished forms. It wasn't planned. The goal was to hibernate. Vernon moved to a remote cabin in the woods of Northwestern Wisconsin at the onset of winter. He lived there alone for three months, filling his days with wood splitting and other chores around the land. This solitary time slowly began feeding a bold, uninhibited new musical focus. The days slowly evolved into nights filled with twelve-hour recording blocks, breaking only for trips on the tractor into the pines to saw and haul firewood, or for frozen sunrises high up a deer stand. All of his personal trouble, lack of perspective, heartache, longing, love, loss and guilt that had been stock piled over the course of the past six years, was suddenly purged into the form of song.
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/boniverWebsite:
http://virb.com/boniverIsobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan : Sunday At Devil Dirt
V2
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan return with their sublime second album together - "Sunday at Devil Dirt" - the follow-up to the critically-acclaimed "Ballad of the Broken Seas" which received a mercury nomination in 2006. The album title gives an indication of the music within. While continuing to mine the same rich seam of alt-country, folk and blues of their debut, the new record also embraces a more dusty southern gothic. A sultry, jazzy feel is evident alongside the influence of Tom Waits on a number of tracks. As with their first album, it has been written, produced and arranged by Isobel Campbell, with Lanegan providing lead vocal duties.
Myspace (Mark Lanegan):
www.myspace.com/marklaneganMyspace (Isobel Campbell):
www.myspace.com/isobelcampbellCut Copy : In Ghost Colours
Modular
Following recent single "Lights & Music", Aussie electroclashers Cut Copy deliver their second long player. Produced by Tim Goldsworthy, DFA's inhouse producer, programming guru, and all round synth mogul, "In Ghost Colours" is a great follow up to 2005's "Bright Like Neon Love". Haunted with machines of the past and sounds of the future, Cut Copy inhabit the kind of space in time where trends are irrelevant and music is about feeling rather than following and 1969 is just as relevant as 2020. At once electronic and organic, Cut Copy have crafted a record filled with glorious sounds and moods that brims with unashamedly pop hooks.
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/cutcopyWebsite:
http://www.cutcopy.netDan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip : Angles
Sunday Best
Blasting out of nowhere with their zeitgeist-hitting list song "Thou Shalt Always Kill" in 2007, Dan Le Sac (music) Vs. Scroobius Pip (rapping) now bring us a whole long player. The duo take influences from US spoken word hip hop labels like Anticon (check "Look For The Woman" for a very Why? style cut), while coming across more like an electroid Mike Skinner (but with lyrics about the periodic table, rather than coming up on yer Es). In the end they sound like no-one else but themselves, making music that is totally now. It's an indie-hip hop-electroclash collision!
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/lesacvspiNeil Diamond : Home Before Dark
Columbia Records
Collaborating once again with legendary producer Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, Tom Petty), "Home Before Dark" is a vivid 12 track masterclass in compelling songwriting and the follow up to 2005's highly acclaimed "12 Songs". "Home Before Dark" features twelve original songs written by Neil Diamond and was recorded in Los Angeles with guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench (from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), along with bassist/acoustic guitarist Smokey Hormel and guitarist Matt Sweeney. Highlights on the album are many, including the stunning lead single "Pretty Amazing Grace" and a striking duet with the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines on "Another Day (That Time Forgot)".
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/neildiamondWebsite:
www.neildiamond.comJoey Negro And The Sunburst Band : Moving With The Shakers
Z Records
Joey Negro And The Sunburst Band are back with another solid album, featuring a ragbag delight of boogie, disco, funk and jazz, all played live by a full band and string section, channeling the spirit of classic 70s disco orchestras or Soul Weekender classics. Collaborators include Harlem soul legend Leroy Burgess, Diane Charlemagne (of Goldie's "Inner City Life" fame) and Taka Boom (Chaka Khan's sister dontcha know), as well as Elektrons frontman Pete Simpson. It's just one big uplifting sing-along, dance-along party jam!
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/thesunburstbandMatmos : Supreme Balloon
Matador
"Supreme Balloon" finds the dynamic duo of M C Schmidt and Drew Daniel taking a holiday from conceptual responsibility, skipping the outré sampling antics in favour of a lighthearted 'cosmic pop' record made entirely out of synthesizers. That's right, no household objects played in a percussive manner, no snails or blood or amplified semen, no acoustic instruments, no voices of famous people for five seconds, not even any half-way cheating with Vocoders, just synthesizers of all shapes, sizes, eras and nationalities being snipped, folded and reshuffled by an arsenal of samplers and computers into colourful sound-origami. Gear fetishists take note: the exotic and antiquated synths used on the record heavily spotlight the classic 60s/70s/80s consumer electronic rigs of Arp, Korg, Roland, Waldorf and Moog, and feature modular systems from Electro-Comp, Doepfer and Akai (hell, even a stylophone and a Suzuki Omnichord show up). But there are also completely unique, one-of-a-kind modular curios present, such as the "Coupigny" modular synthesizer housed in the INA/GRM studios at Radio France in Paris and used extensively by some of the titans of musique-concrete.
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/matmos1PlantLife : Time Traveller
Rapster
Jack Splash and Panda One return with "Time Traveller", the second PlantLife album and follow-up to the massive "The Return Of Jack Splash" set in 2004 (#1 in Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Winners LP chart for that year). It's an album that continues to bring together the best of 70s soul, funk and rock, 80s electro freak out, 90s b-boy politics and 2008s futuristic nu-soul ideals.
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/plantlifeThe Shortwave Set : Replica Sun Machine
Wall Of Sound
Last summer The Shortwave Set's Andrew Pettit, David Farrell and Ulrika Bjorsne decamped from South East London to California minus a record deal or any funding to speak of with only their self-belief and the ton of goodwill generated by their much-loved debut "The Debt Collection" for company. At the invitation of Danger Mouse, the trio went to work in Los Angeles last June, where they wasted no time in availing themselves of the string arranging talents of Van Dyke Parks (legendary Beach Boys collaborator) and the distinctive soundscapes and atmospherics of The Velvet Underground's John Cale. The resulting album "Replica Sun Machine" is a psychedelic pop adventure, where acid-bright sunshine casts eerie shadows and illuminates uncomfortable truths. It's an impossible-to-get-out-off-your-head trip, like a European Flaming Lips inspired by the baroque pop of the Left Banke, the cinematic scope of Serge Gainsbourg and the discomforting drama of Nico's solo albums.
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/theshortwavesetUrsula Minor : Laudanum
The Foreign Office
"Laudanum" is the debut mini-album by acclaimed Scottish four-piece, Ursula Minor. On "Laudanum", Mary-chain-esque guitars swim and collide with waves of electronica, a digitised heartbeat brings Krautrock screaming into the modern age, and dark whispers are woven into the lining of it all. Through the harsh, brooding squall of "Laudanum" to the loose, rolling melodies of "Past Two Weeks", this mini-album is an aural snapshot of that sound, brought to you for the first time by The Foreign Office. Exploring similar territory as the likes of My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3, they create beauty through white noise and find precise patterns in chaos. The release of their debut "Laudanum" will introduce a new audience to their world of reverb, where Neu! always program the percussion, Stockhausen picked up a guitar, and "Raw Power"-era Stooges were producers. Fantastic stuff, highly recommended!!!!
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/ursulaminorVirgin Passages : Distance
Fire
Virgin Passages create beautifully original soundscapes from often improvised pieces but retain a pop sensibility akin to early Mercury Rev, Spacemen 3 and Jackie O Motherfucker. Following the collection of early recordings on "Mandalay", "Distance" sees them in great pop form with the short and sweet title track followed by a meandering Stereolab-alike anthem of "This Is Not The End Of The World Again" and the neu-folk, subtly sublime "Who Do You Love".
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/virginpassagesAND FINALLY...
We hope you enjoy what we are doing and find it useful. If you like the sound of any of the albums then we suggest you saunter, swagger, stroll, bunny-hop or backflip your way to
Piccadilly Records to ask the nice folk there for a listen.
Then buy some music!!!
ALSO...
If you want regular updates on albums, live reviews and gig guides (with more to come) why don't you subscribe to this Blog? Really easy, just click on 'Subscribe to Posts' at the bottom of this Blog and follow the instructions.
You can also join us on
Facebook and
Myspace - links to our other sites can be found at the side of the page.
Spread the word people!!!
Thanks
WTE
