Sunday 27 April 2014

Album of the Week #21

Artist: Voluntary Butler Scheme
Album: A Million Ways
Year: 2014
Label: Split Records

It's one of those little oddities that music created by a one man band seems to automatically go up in people's estimations. From Paul McCartney's McCartney II  to Tame Impala's Lonerism, it is often surprising to hear that such complex albums have actually been written, recorded and produced by a lone individual. The Slowdown by solo artist Pilote, an early album of the week on this very blog, is another example of the masterful compositional skills that some individuals possess. Which brings us to this album by one man band Rob Jones, aka The Voluntary Butler Scheme.

With releases under his Voluntary Butler Scheme moniker dating back to 2009's debut album At Breakfast, Dinner, Tea, Jones has quietly been building up an impressive band of followers, with recognition from the likes of NME, Radio 1, 6 Music, XFM and even The Sun. He's also played sessions for Huw Stephens, Marc Riley and Dermot O'Leary and drawn praise from none other than Suggs, of Madness fame. It's an impressive CV for sure, yet this wide-ranging support hasn't exactly led to mainstream success.

Melding together trumpets (A LOT of trumpets), synths, guitars, bass and more with effortless ease, Jones manages to create a densely layered yet approachable album, one that is underpinned by his affable, relatable lyrics and multi-tracked vocals. The almost endless brass accompaniments throughout recall quintessentially British records by the likes of Blur, The Kinks and, for a more contemporary reference, Sweet Baboo.

The glitchy electronic beats and shuffling drums of album opener The Q Word soon give way to an extended brass outro and Jones' heartfelt, repeated plea Don't take your love away from me becoming an All You Need Is Love-esque mantra. It isn't the strongest indicator as to the direction of the remainder of the album, however. The rest packs a much more concise pop punch, rarely going over the three minute mark, even if that heavy brass influence is a prevalent theme throughout.

But it's not all charming little trumpeted numbers. Brain Freeze melds a funky guitar hook with a typically melodic vocal delivery and catchy lyrics, whilst the closing title track is a far woozier and blissed out affair than much of what precedes it. You might find you're often having to remind yourself that this record has been put together entirely by an individual, for despite the plethora of catchy, poppy numbers, the added instrumentation make it a far more complex listen that it initially seems.

Quinzhee is a sun-kissed nugget of great pop music, with the vocal hook I'm building us a house out of snow likely to be a welcome earworm for days to come. It sounds effortlessly constructed and delivered by Jones, which is a testament to his masterful songwriting skills. He hasn't achieved anything like mainstream success as a result of his talents, but mainstream success for this album wouldn't quite feel right. A Million Ways To Make Gold is an endearing and personable listen that somehow feels precisely like a hidden gem - and I kinda hope it will stay that way.



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Wednesday 23 April 2014

Midweek Mixtape #3

Kelis - Friday Fish Fry

Kelis has become somewhat of a musical chameleon over time. Her latest album, Food, was released this week, and the nu-soul motown swagger of the record makes for a totally refreshing listen - something which is becoming a common occurrence for the American singer. Brass-laden with a strong retro vibe, Friday Fish Fry is the crowning point of the record and Kelis' delicate, husky and raw vocals are perfect for this soul-tinged classic.




The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Goodbye (Butterfly)

Back once again with their latest offering of psych-rock, The Brian Jonestown Massacre have an handy knack of not particularly changing their sound throughout their career yet always managing to sound different. The exclusive Record Store Day release Goodbye (Butterfly) has the band in full flow, with frontman Anton Newcombe's vocals barely audible over a droning, addictive melody and the soft, Beatles-esque backing vocal 'doo doos' chant a constant in the background. Always different, yet still unmistakably The Brian Jonestown Massacre. It's a record only they could make.





Pixies - Greens and Blues

Indie Cindy, the first studio album from the Pixies since 1991's Trompe Le Monde, sees the indie rock legends occasionally return to their great heights - particularly in the trademark Pixies sounding Greens and Blues. Soaring Santiago guitar riffs together with Black Francis' strummed acoustic, the calm amidst a storm of noise, ensure the loss of bass player and songwriter Kim Deal hasn't knocked the band far off their near-peerless course.





Jamie xx - Sleep Sound

Not content with producing sleek, sophisticated, Mercury Prize-winning indie pop with The xx, Jamie xx has done it again with his latest release. His 2011 Gil Scott-Heron remix album We're New Here was a triumph, and he soon followed that with the majestic Far Nearer. Now, Sleep Sound sees the producer return to the sound that he has managed to carve out for himself in an astonishingly short period of time. Another banger.

Sunday 20 April 2014

Album of the Week #20

Artist: Talisman
Album: Dole Age
Year: 2011
Label: Bristol Archive Records

A theme I touched upon in my review of Phaeleh's Fallen Light some weeks ago, The Bristol Sound is one that didn't come about as if by magic. By the time Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky were making trip-hop-shaped waves around the globe, it was after years of the city finding, redefining and finetuning its own sound. But one common theme is the bass-heavy nature of a lot of its output - starting with the prolific Bristol reggae scene of the late 70s and early 80s. The band at the forefront of that was Talisman.

Bristol has long been a heavily multicultural place, something which has had both positive and negative consequences for the city. This melting pot of different cultures has often spawned a vast amount of new and original music, from Mark Stewart's post-punk pioneers The Pop Group through to house purveyor Eats Everything via Massive Attack. But it has also had a negative side. Racial tensions have too often reared their ugly head in the city - none more so than during the St. Pauls Riot of 1980. It was the culmination of a deterioration in race relations throughout the 1970s and a watershed moment for the city. Yet Talisman have become inextricably linked with this point in Bristol's multicultural history.

Against this backdrop of racial tensions and urban riots, Talisman were a reggae group who managed to (briefly) unite the broken local communities in Bristol. Brendan Whitmore, a white Irishman, played the saxophone in Talisman alongside a revolving collective of Caribbean musicians, regularly playing gigs to the heavily black and Caribbean-populated area of St. Pauls. But instead of heightening the racial tensions in the area, the music brought the community together. Whitmore was accepted and appreciated, seen as a skilled saxophone player in a top reggae band rather than a white man in a black neighbourhood.

Since releasing a series of singles, EPs and an album in the late 70s and early 80s, it seemed until recently that this microcosm of Bristol's musical history had been lost forever. But in 2011, Bristol Archive Records gathered together the best of the songs they recorded between 1977 and 1981 in the Dole Age compilation. The songs are melodic and blissful yet lyrically striking - as you might expect considering the cultural backdrop in which they were written. Talisman's USP, however, has to be the dub style breakdown that they shoehorned into most, if not all songs. It is a nod to Bristol's bass sound and to the band's own love for dub, symbolic of the unique sound attributed to many artists that have broken out of the city.

The compilation is a mixture of 7" versions of studio tracks together with several live recordings during the band's pomp. Run Come Girl is a harmonica-led reggae classic, whilst Free Speech and Dole Age address the social issues of the time in the only way that Talisman know: through classic reggae music. The live recordings thrust the instrumental dub breakdowns into the spotlight further, with the colossal Words of Wisdom flirting with the 15-minute barrier and Ah Wah U Seh clocking in at just under 9 minutes long.

These features mark Talisman out from many other reggae bands and make them a continued shining light for UK reggae music. But most importantly, Talisman are a constant reminder of the social and political barriers that can be broken down by music. They united a fractured community by creating wonderful music, and that's something that should be remembered for a long time, particularly in these times of austerity.



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Wednesday 16 April 2014

Midweek Mixtape #2

Although I regrettably wasn't able to provide y'all with an album this week, I'm back to give you a rundown of some of the coolest stuff that I've heard this week.

Liars - Vox Tuned D.E.D.

Three-piece New York group Liars have never been afraid to switch up genres. After flitting from punk, post-punk, noise rock and beyond, they're currently testing the waters of deep, dark, experimental electronic music. Interestingly, a common ploy for the group is to immerse themselves in the culture of another city before producing their new record: from a cabin in the New Jersey woods to the dripping-in-history city of Berlin, they've never been shy to relocate. Although much of the material for their latest album, Mess, was recorded at their home studio in L.A., it hasn't stopped them from creating what is arguably their most daring effort yet. Vox Tuned D.E.D. is dark, brilliantly challenging and challengingly brilliant.



Captain Murphy - Duality

Just in case Steven Ellison's brilliantly experimental albums under the Flying Lotus name weren't enough, in 2012 he dropped the Duality mixtape under his other moniker, Captain Murphy. Featuring a guest appearance from Earl Sweatshirt, the album is ferocious hip-hop bathed in psychedelia and interspersed with old spoken word clips. Accompanied by a quite frankly disturbing video, Duality hits hard in both its confrontational lyrical style and musical nature that matches the experimental reach of FlyLo. A must watch.



The Voluntary Butler Scheme - Brain Freeze

A catchy, brass-laden effort with a funky guitar line and memorable lyrics: solo artist Rob Jones has managed to pack plenty of elements into this bubblegum pop gem, and its infectious melody and addictive nature are pretty symbolic of the whole aesthetic of his third solo album, A Million Ways To Make Gold. The West Midlands-based artist is pretty likely to feature again on this blog, but for now, check 'Brain Freeze' out.



Thursday 10 April 2014

Midweek Mixtape #1

Hello and welcome to the first weekly round-up of what's currently on my musical plate. I figured recently that I have a pretty hormonal taste in music – it shifts between three or four different genres every week, never mind every month! And though I like to give a weekly taster of what hidden gem I think you should also love (every Sunday, if you didn't know), this brief midweek snapshot should (hopefully) help you unearth some more great music that you might not have heard. Enjoy!

Jamie Hamilton – Circles

Woozy, ethereal, electronic sounds swirl their way around Jamie Hamilton's tender voice and soft acoustic guitar in Circles. The singer-songwriter's debut album is a quirky record full of missteps designed to throw you off course – Oceans for instance boasts an electronic wig-out to close out a seemingly acoustic ballad. But it's Hamilton's sleazy, blissful vocals which are the main constant in Circles, which never fails to surprise and often delights.





Talisman - Run Come Girl

Talisman are a Bristol-based reggae group who originally disbanded in the 1980s, before their seemingly forgotten music was rediscovered and reissued by Bristol Archive Records in 2011, before the group reunited in 2013 for a string of live dates and a triumphant reunion album. Their story doesn't end there though - but more on that on Sunday, when they will be our album of the week! Run Come Girl is a melodic, harmonica-led highlight complete with a dub-inspired breakdown towards the end. A must listen.





The Lijadu Sisters – Life Is Gone Down Low

For anyone fortunate enough to have attended the recent live celebrations of William Onyeabor's music, with the only two performances in Bristol and London, they were joyous occasions of the hidden gem of gems. But one pleasant surprise from the shows was the live return of The Lijadu Sisters, two Nigerian twins who haven't performed live for some thirty years. Still, I suppose that beats William Onyeabor's record of having never performed his music live. Life Is Gone Down Low is a beautiful slice of afro-pop and a real live highlight – no mean feat when you're up against the likes of this.



Kyla La Grange – Cut Your Teeth

Emerging from the folk-rock driven sounds of her debut album Ashes, Kyla La Grange reappeared earlier this year with the sultry electronic vibes of Cut Your Teeth. With it's sparse arrangement and Kyla's soft, whispered vocals dominating, its one of the pop songs of the year so far. A brave, bold change in direction for Kyla, but judging from the reaction to this so far, it's a step that has been worth taking.

Sunday 6 April 2014

Album of the Week #19

Artist: Phaeleh
Album: Fallen Light
Year: 2010
Label: Afterglo

Bristol-based electronic musician Phaeleh has been releasing his ambient, bass-heavy music since 2008, making him somewhat of a veteran in the genre, but it's surely 2010's Fallen Light which stands out as his most complete piece of work. He is one of many electronic artists to break out of a city which has become defined by it's love of bass, with this record plucking the best elements from trip-hop, dubstep and ambient music.

It is perhaps a rare feat for electronic musicians to make genuinely strong albums - Disclosure one modern example that goes against that trend - but even at 13 songs long, Phaeleh also goes some way to disproving that notion. But where the all-conquering Disclosure called in all manners of special guests to feature on Settle, Phaeleh calls in just one - Soundmouse - to feature on two songs: Afterglow and Breathe in Air. Both are album highlights.

Soundmouse's superb, woozy vocals certainly lift the two tracks to the highest points of the record, as they float in and out of that blissed-out Bristol bass sound. Badman flirts with dubstep and is symbolic of the coffee table, 'post-dubstep' phase, where everyone calmed down after the rise of Skrillex and American 'brostep'. It's a testament to Phaeleh's abilities that this track actually preceded the whole emergence and subsequent submergence of that scene.

Perhaps the only disappointment stemming from the album is the length of both the individual tracks and the whole album. Although the more ambient moments of the album nicely float along, it certainly treads a fine line between that and plain old meandering. But the knockout moments of this album are some of the best electronic music you'll hear, so it's certainly worth persevering with - just like any music of this nature.

Phaeleh does manage to blend together the elements of what has made 'The Bristol Sound' as successfully as you could hope for though. Fallen Light is a rewarding journey through post-dubstep sounds that will have you racking your brains for who influenced it. However, Phaeleh's music has probably influenced more modern artists than you might think.



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