Day 0972 - In Rainbows

Radiohead “In Rainbows” (2007) – got it

Radiohead took a bit of a break following the tour for their previous album “Hail to the Thief”.  They’d completed the obligations of their record contract, and arguably "Hail" wasn’t their finest hour.   After the steady evolution of Pablo Honey through to the Kid A/Amnesiac albums, Hail felt like a bit of a backward step.

The band regrouped and tried to come up with some music but the sessions proved difficult.  The band tried working with different producers and then went on tour.  Finally they reunited with producer Nigel Godrich who, Thom Yorke said, gave them a “walloping kick up the arse”.   Work picked up and the band ended up with 16 songs which they trimmed down to just 10 tracks on the album, wanting to put forward a concise musical statement.

The album is pleasingly defiant of overall categorisation, with opener “15 Step” starting with a Kid A-esque electronic beat but overlaid with clean guitar and coherent vocals.  There’s a lot of clean guitar tones, for instance with "Nude" and single “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” which sounds to be a mix of acoustic and electric guitars.  Nude has melodic atmospheric guitar parts that swell and fade in the background along with harmonised backing vocals.

"Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" has a propulsive almost dance beat with a fairly clean start that eventually builds to swirls of sound and at one point the music underneath cuts down to just the beat and Yorke's vocal.

"All I Need" has a loping synthy bass but builds to a crescendo.   "House of Cards" almost has hints of later era U2 (not in a bad way) in its earnest minimalism but still with some sonic experimentation.

Radiohead generally seem to pick great songs as their album closers, and “Videotape” is no exception, with it’s slow sombre piano and stuttering stabs of drums.

Day 0971 - Sounds of Silver

 LCD Soundsystem “Sounds of Silver” (2007)

I'd been introduced to LCD Soundsystem via their track "Daft Punk is Playing at My House".   They're one of those bands where I've enjoyed everything I've heard from them but for some reason have never made an effort to investigate any more of it.   I was hoping they'd pop up on the list to force my lazy, disorganised arse into listening to them.

The late-70s influence is all over this,  “Get Innocuous” feels like an update of Bowie’s Young Americans album, while “Time to Get Away” is like mid-era Talking Heads.   Actually TH is a definite presence here with the danceable rock and skittish intellectual vocal approach.

“Someone Great” is a bed of swelling synths with a perky lead line, all topped with Murphy’s repetitive melodic vocal on top.  Comes across kind of like if Kraftwerk’s music making robots found a little more humanity... and lethargy.

Much of the rest of the album occasionally touches on the above influences but falls more into a sort of indie rock sound with a few electronic conceits included.
The album ends well with “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” which starts out as a delicate piano piece sounding not unlike Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day'.   It eventually builds to an excellent crazed rock freak-out and then backs off again for the denouement.

Day 0970 - Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

Arctic Monkeys “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” (2006)

I remember first encountering Arctic Monkeys via their video for “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” and not being impressed.  From vocalists Alex Turner’s intro “Arctic Monkeys... don’t believe the hype” (it just seemed like a humble brag, like ‘yeah there’s hype around us, but we’re like whatever’) to the throwback 1970s garage-rock style they were playing and the accompanying lo-fi late 70s/early-80s retro look to their Strokes-esque performance video.  It all smacked of effort masquerading as ‘we don’t care’.  

The songs worked their way under my skin though, and the song “Teddy Picker” from their second album really turned my opinion of them around, and I eventually embraced this album.

While it is less diverse than their later releases, and is definitely in that retro, garage-revival vein, with guitar ranging from trebly-and-jangly to distorted-and-raucous; there’s lots to recommend the album.   Whether it’s the propulsive punky energy of “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”, the lazy funky groove of “Fake Tales of San Francisco” or the speedy, tight arrangement and zingy lyrics of “You Probably Couldn’t See for the Lights but You Were Staring Straight at Me”.   Alex Turner would improve in leaps and bounds as a lyricist but "When the Sun Goes Down" was already a great narrative and some good word-smithing.

Day 0969 - Ys

Joanna Newsom "Ys" (2006)

The book compares Newsom to Kate Bush, and I could certainly see/hear some similarities, both in the timbre of her voice, the almost operatic/theatrical quality of some of her music and the range of sounds.   Her more violent delivery in places like "Sawdust and Diamonds" almost brings Bjork to mind.

Harpist and vocalist Newsom had released her debut album and was part of a new-folk movement along with Devendra Branhart.   

 

This album is an interesting mix of parts.   Newsom recorded her harp and vocal parts with brass-tacks, punkish producer Steve Albini.  Orchestral arrangements were added after the fact by Van Dyke Parks, arranger for the Beach Boys' more adventurous albums.   

The arrangements nicely accentuate Newsom's songs, giving them room to breathe in places, but coming to the fore when it's appropriate.

The album has only 5 tracks, but most of them are around the 10-15 minute mark, not unlike some 1970s albums, like a lot of the prog, fusion and yeah even some of the folk stuff from that era.

Day 0968 - Savane

Ali Farka Touré  "Savane" (2006)

I enjoyed this one.   Touré had last shown up on this list with his "Talking Timbuktu" collaboration with Ry Cooder (see day 774).   I didn't have a lot to say with that one but noted that Touré was accused of ripping off the American blues though he was largely playing folk sounds from his own country (which had in turn likely inspired the blues).

A similar thing could be said here, you can definitely hear the origins of the blues in this music.  Touré adds nods to the American evolution of it, with the odd harmonica featured and with American musicians playing on the album.

There's a good range of sounds here.  Opening track "Erdi" has a rootsy celtic feel that somehow seems to evoke pioneer, wild west America.   The title track almost has a reggae rhythm with blues guitar over it.   "Soya" has a repetitive loop with an earthy African vibe.  

The whole album is bursting with life and vitality, all the more amazing considering Touré would not live to see it's release.  He had died a few months before from cancer.  As closing statements go, it is a worthy album.

Day 0967 - Fishscale

Ghostface Killah “Fishscale” (2006)

It’s been a bit of a gap since Wu-tang have shown up on this list in any form.  I suspect Raewkon’s “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx” (which heavily featured Ghostface Killah) might have been the last.  In that time GK had released a few solo albums, an album with his rap collective Theodore Unit, guested on a bunch of other artist’s releases and had temporarily dropped the ‘Killah’ from his name.

This was hailed as one of GK’s best, most cohesive albums for a while and (without being that familiar with most of his work) I could get behind that.   As with many hip-hop albums of this era, it’s overlong, running 65 minutes or so.  It has 24 tracks but plenty of those are short skits or nice brief tracks below the 3-minute mark, so things don’t get stagnant.

The mix of producers doesn’t prevent the album coming across as a cohesive work, though I did prefer J Dilla’s tracks, especially the catchy, quirky “Whip You With a Strap”.  I believe J Dilla released some solo stuff too, so might need to check on that.  MF Doom’s “Underwater” is also enjoyably interesting and sonically feels like it lives up to its name.

There are some quite RZA-esque beats here.  That, mixed with the film dialogue samples ties it nicely into the Wu-niverse, even though it seems to throw in a lot more soul samples and horns and whatnot.  

Day 0966 - Food & Liquor

Lupe Fiasco "Food & Liquor" (2006)

Lupe had grown up with parents who exposed him to a range of experiences and knowledge.   This, juxtaposed with the experience of growing up in a dangerous neighbourhood helped shape his music and world-view.

After a deal with Arista records fell through, Jay Z helped Lupe land a contract with Atlantic and get started on his debut album.   Lupe explained that the title was in reference to the 'food and liquor' stores that could be found all around his neighbourhood and other similar hoods.   He stated that it represented the balance of the two sides of people.   Food was the good, but liquor (with Lupe being a Muslim) represented the evil.

While the album starts and ends in meandering fashion ("Intro" and the 12-minute long "Outro") the rest of it is interesting stuff.

"Kick Push" almost has a Dan the Automator feel with its retro cinematic swells of strings and horns, but actually backing quite a sweet story about skating romance.   It's cleverly juxtaposed later on by "Kick Push II" which focuses on the street drug trade.

"The Instrumental" starts off almost sounding like the quiet part of a nu-metal track... which is not surprising when I then see it's produced by Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park.  It does have a good groove to it though with interesting production sound, little swells of strings popping up among guitar loop and keyboard parts.

"Pressure" (feat. Jay Z) has a 70s funk and rock backing. "He Say, She Say" is glorious strings.  "I Gotcha" has a jazzy keyboard part to it.

Another of those hip-hop albums that (at 72+ minutes) could possibly have stood to lose a track or two, but other than that, I dug this.

Day 0965 - Back to Black

Amy Winehouse "Back to Black" (2006) - got it

It would be easy enough to go on about Amy's drug problems (and her possibly related parental problems) or her early death making her a late-era member of the famed '27 club', but I love this album and would prefer to stick to the music.

I enjoy Amy's debut "Frank" well enough, it's more of a straight-ahead jazz thing with a few reggae and pop touches, but this one is much more my cup of tea.   As Winehouse began her relationship with her eventual husband Blake Fielder-Civil they were hanging out in bars with a lot of jukebox music, lots of 60s girl groups and Motown stuff.   This soundtrack highly influenced her writing, and even after the relationship with Fielder-Civil fell apart (for a time) she carried on with the sound.

While there are one or two more straight ahead jazz ballads here like "Love is a Losing Game" and "Wake Up Alone", for the most part the songs have a bit more of a groove to them, combined with Amy's strong, controlled, distinctive voice.    

 

Whether it's my favourite, the funereal, cinematic title track (the basic track of which was thrown together overnight by producer Mark Ronson to show Winehouse that he could get with the sound she wanted); or jazzy funk of opening track "Rehab", Ronson and Winehouse bring a groove that is somehow simultaneously retro and contemporary.  "Tears Dry on Their Own" takes things a step further, isn't just influenced by Motown, it's Winehouse and Ronson pretty much building a new song over the backing track for the Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell track "Ain't no Mountain High Enough".

Mark Ronson's string and horn arrangements suit the pop/motown vibe perfectly, while Winehouse's voice still with its jazzy nod to the versatility of Sarah Vaughan and the raw emotion of Billie Holliday slinks around the tunes.   It's an album that started being written in the throes of love and was finished in the pain of breakup, it gives you the lot, and in under 40 minutes to-boot

Despite what I said about not dwelling on her death, I will say that Amy Winehouse is another of those great musical 'what ifs'.   Maybe she never would have topped this album, but I feel like she was (apologies for the cliche) just getting started.

Day 0964 - Illinois

Sufjan Stevens "Illinois" (2005)

Stevens had started a project which he'd planned to be 50 albums, one for each state of the US.   He started with his home state of Michigan then moved onto Illinois.   The project appears to have petered out, with Stevens himself referring to it as just a publicity stunt.   I wonder if the truth is more that he burnt himself out.

He seems to have researched the album a bit beforehand, reading histories of the state, reading books by authors from that state, engaging with locals online.  This album is over an hour long and as it is he had enough songs left over to release an album of out-takes, "The Avalanche" the year after this.   If he'd carried on in this way, that kind of output would be like a fire hydrant of music.

I don't mind Sufjan, this album could have had a place in my heart if it had been cut the hell down to say 40 or 45 minutes of music.   However, there are lots of enjoyable sounds here, with a pleasing range of instrumentation.  In particular "Chicago" sounded familiar and its mix of horns, strings and layered vocals tickled my music bone.  Overall though, there's just way too much music here and I don't gel with Sufjan's style enough to really fully get on board for an hour and a quarter's-worth of music across 22 tracks.

Day 0963 - Coles Corner

Richard Hawley “Coles Corner” (2005)

Hawley had played in a couple of bands Treebound Story and Longpigs.  Following the breakup of the latter band, Hawley split his time between playing as a touring guitarist for Pulp and as a session musician.  Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey heard some of Hawley’s solo demos and encouraged him to do something with them.

He recorded his first album in bits and bobs, often using leftover studio time from other recording gigs.   The album was well received, and Hawley was up and running.

This album, like Hawley’s previous release “Lowedges” references a location in his native Sheffield for the title.  Coles Corner apparently being a spot for courting lovers to meet.  That reference seems appropriate with the collection of gentle, atmospheric tracks, and Hawley holding a bunch of flowers on the cover.

I was turned onto Hawley’s music by a friend in Leeds who played me his song “Tonight the Streets are Ours” and this album follows a similar vibe; 1950s balladry styles with the vocals and guitar drenched in reverb.  Strings back selected tracks and this, combined with the overall sound and Hawley’s deep croon brings Scott Walker’s early material to mind.   There’s more of a country lilt to a couple of songs including “Just Like the Rain” “(Wading Through) the Waters of My Time”, but much of it is lush chamber-pop and torch songs.

I like this album and Hawley’s sound in general, but I couldn’t claim that every song stuck indelibly in my mind.

The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize but lost out to Arctic Monkeys.

Day 0962 - Be

Common “Be” (2005)

Following his success with “Like Water For Chocolate” (see day 913) Common really shook things up with his follow-up “Electric Circus”.  He moved away from his hip-hop sound, incorporating rock and psychedelic aspects.  That move was critically well-received, but the kudos wasn’t reflected in his album sales.

Common parted company with label MCA and was signed to Kanye West’s newly formed GOOD records.  Kanye was a fan of Common’s and the two got together with Common’s producer J Dilla (RIP) to produce “Be”.

The album almost feels like a modern “What’s Going On” (see day 208) and even samples Marvin Gaye on “Love is….”.   There is plenty of soul used in the backing tracks, and Common largely acts as a reporter of life growing up black in the US, particularly on tracks like “Be”, “The Corner” and “Real People”.  

The track “Testify” feels like it’s something similar but takes a turn as a is man set up and framed by his heartless wife.  Probably a theme Marvin Gaye would have got on board with as he seemed to play the victim following his divorce from Anna Gordy, which in turn led to him producing the album “Here My Dear” with the court ordering any royalties be paid to Gordy.

By contrast the track “Faithful” sees Common reflecting thoughtfully on the way he does and should treat women.

I probably preferred this to "Like Water for Chocolate".  Just the general overall sound and the slightly more 'conscious' lyrics appealed to me.

Day 0961 - American Idiot

Green Day "American Idiot" (2004) - got it

The story goes that Green Day had recorded an album which was to continue the expansion of their musical palette that had been going on in their previous album "Warning".  The recordings were stolen and the band decided started from scratch.   Realistically they had backups and could have recreated the music.  It was more likely it just wasn't quite up to scratch, but it makes a for better story to say the theft led to reinvention.

The band took the opportunity to try something different; a punk-rock opera.   There does seem to be a lyrical connection, and the album's two medley pieces "Jesus of Surburbia" and "Homecoming" feed into that conceit.   I've never really paid too much attention to that side of things but the album does have a certain cohesion to it, even as it mashes punk rock (the title track and "Saint Jimmy") with an almost 1950s sound on the verses of "Give Me Novocaine" and stadium-sized sound on songs like "We are the Waiting" or ballad "Wake Me When September Ends".

The song that seized me pretty early on was "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"  with it's tremolo-drenched alt-rock balladry. I hate the radio would often play a version where they shave off the instrumental outro, as though it was unworthy because it didn't have a human voice on it (probably just considered too long for the radio) it's one of my favourite parts of the song.   

The album was also seemingly one of the few mainstream releases making any effort to criticise the US invasion of Iraq (the sequel).  Definitely throwing a title like "American Idiot" at a highly patriotic nation like the US was a reasonably punk-rock thing to do.

American Idiot ended up being a shot in the arm for Green Day, setting their direction for the next few years, leading to a live album, a documentary, and even a stage musical. 

Day 0960 - Funeral

Arcade Fire “Funeral” (2004)

Arcade Fire seem to have had 'fiery' beginnings, with most of the band other than founder Win Butler and Régine Chassagne quitting and/or being replaced in the journey from formation to this, their debut album.

I remember seeing Aracde Fire on the televised footage of either Reading or Leeds fest when I was living in the UK.  A friend opined that they seemed like enthusiastic amateurs.  Playing pretty basic music, but with so much gusto and so many people on stage that it kind of carried things along.  Possibly a harsh assessment given that this album topped a lot of end of decade top ten lists (just behind Radiohead’s “Kid A”).

Myself, I don’t know that it’s worthy of those plaudits.  I feel as though it’s a competent enough indie-rock album with a few extra embellishments from strings, accordion and additional percussion touches; but it’s not necessarily better than a lot of the other albums on this list so far.

The gusto/bombast mentioned above is definitely on show with a song like “Wake Up” which seems to have been designed for a big audience sing-along.  Huge but simple group vocals that are pretty much a chant.

Songs like “Neighbourhood #4 (7 Kettles)” and “Crown of Love” offer up subtler moments, whereas a song like “In the backseat” starts small and builds.

I wasn’t really an Arcade Fire fan going into this, and that hasn’t really changed.  It’s not bad music, but it’s also not something I feel compelled to revisit or investigate further.

Day 0959 - Want Two

Rufus Wainwright “Want Two” (2004)

I have always enjoyed grandiosity and cinematic ‘scope’ in music, but Rufus Wainwright was almost too much for me in this respect!   I heard his album “Release the Stars” playing in a music store back when I was living in the UK and was instantly hooked.  If memory serves I picked up a copy that same day.  

While I loved Rufus’ mix of orchestra and choir with his melodic songcraft, I found that the album was actually so musically overwhelming that I couldn’t listen to "Release the Stars" more than once a week.  In the intervening years of course, I’ve gotten onto so many other albums/artists that it gets even less time.

From the opening track of “Want Two” (companion piece to Wainwright’s previous release “Want One”) I thought it might be more of the same, as Wainwright’s high, powerful voice vibrates over swirling string arrangements.  The next two tracks though pare things back nicely, with melodic tracks featuring interesting, yet relatively restrained arrangements.   “Peach Trees” in particular features lovely harmonised backing vocals that complement the song without overpowering it.

“The Art Teacher” tells a gentle tale of unrequited love for one’s educator.   “Gay Messiah” mixes country music (not always a genre known for its forward-thinking ideas on homosexuality) with a sort of gospel vibe.   The album ends on the lengthy but not overly ostentatious “Old Whore’s Diet”.

I’m hard-pushed to say how I’d rate this against “Release the Stars” but I could certainly see revisiting this more than once a week.

Day 0958 - A Grand Don’t Come For Free

The Streets “A Grand Don’t Come For Free” (2004)

To my mind The Streets are punk.  What I mean by that is that punk rock took music, stripped the “you need to be a trained musician” requirement, replaced it with an “anyone can do it” ethos and brought it down to the street level.   Likewise, plenty of Brits were hip-hop fans, being wowed by the vocal prowess of rappers but not necessarily feeling a connection with stories of street murders, gangstas etc.   

 

Mike Skinner’s musical project the Streets gave his listeners stories of trying to return a DVD in “It Was Supposed to be so Easy”, gambling (badly) “Not Addicted”, looking for a romantic connection at the bar “Could Well be in”, or of finding someone attractive but being put off by the fact that they are well aware of their looks “Fit But You Know it”.  

As well as the ‘real’ subject matter, Skinner's delivery is not really mile-a-minute spitting, nor does he have the smoothest flow.   He almost sounds like a quietly amused bloke who's wandered onto the stage at a karaoke bar.   I mean what other rapper could get away with a cracker of a line like "This night's not even begun, yes, yes, oh yay".  There's a narrative running through the songs which I vaguely picked up on.  

Still not always my cup of tea, I tend to prefer slightly more obscure or 'wordplay' sorts of lyrics rather than this wave of "I like it because they're talking about things we all know about" artists.   I do like some of his stuff though, and I can hear why others would too.

Day 0957 - Penance Soiree

The Icarus Line "Penance Soiree"

The album's cover with its streams of red running from the face of a wild-haired mosher kind of hints at the possible aggression of the music within.

At first it sounds quite blunt and aggressive, but as you go on a lot of it sounds akin to some of the 70s garage rock revivalists like the Datsuns, or a wilder version of Jet which is not necessarily my favourite genre.   I could kind of see them inspiring a band like Royal Blood in places.

"Spike Island" and "Kiss Like Lizards"  bear some resemblance the heavier moments of grunge bands like Stone Temple Pilots or Alice in Chains.  "Big Sleep" has a nice slow, moody lead-in that then becomes less interesting as it kicks into more of the same 'raw rock'.   "Meatmaker" has a mix of industrial beats and vocal effects that make it seem like a pleasingly ugly mix of Butthole Surfers and Ministry.

Not my favourite album on here so far but it had its moments.

Day 0956 - Destroy Rock n Roll

Mylo "Destroy Rock n Roll" (2004)

The book heaps praise on Mylo, stating "Everbody loves Mylo" and in my usual contrary way I went in ready to hate it.    Truth be told it was okay though.   I wouldn't say I 'love' Milo, but I can certainly hear some value in what he does.

It's all upbeat dance music with an ear for pop.  A few of the earlier tracks have a kitschy sound that almost brings to mind St Étienne.

"Guilty of Love" and "Otto's Journey" have a bright, shiny 1980s pop vibe to them, while "Paris Four Hundred" feels like it would fit in alongside many of the big electro aritsts of the late-90s/early-00s.   

The title track seems to just be a spoken-word roll-call of different famous artists.   Kind of reminds me of a disco version of Tomahawk's "Harlem Clowns".   "Rikki" has a glitchy but still electro-pop sound, like a dance version of what the Shortwave Set would attempt with their "The Debt Collection" album a few years later.

Day 0955 - Cee-lo Green...is the Soul Machine

Cee-lo Green "Cee-lo Green...is the Soul Machine" (2004) - got it

Like a few people, I was introduced to the immense talents of Cee-lo Green via his duo Gnarls Barkley, also featuring producer Danger Mouse. 

I immediately began investigating the back-catalogues of both members and discovered Cee-lo's solo albums.  "...Soul Machine" is a heavyweight of an album.   The last track on the album asks "Damn 'lo, what DON'T you do!" and it's an appropriate question as Green mixes speedy, clever raps in "Childz Play", electronic/dance elements in "I am Selling Soul" and beautiful singing in "Let's Stay Together".  There's jazz in "Living Again" and huge stacked vocal harmonies in "Soul Machine".

The album is possibly a tad long, and do prefer Cee-lo's next solo release "The Lady Killer" where he leaned on his singing/soul side a little more.   But as with all of his material, this one has some great backing tracks, huge vocals and clever lyrics.

Day 0954 - College Dropout

Kanye West “College Dropout” (2004)

Remember those days when Kanye wasn’t a Kardashian side-piece and a walking conversation-starter around the danger of not managing mental health issues.  When we hadn’t even had the “whoa that was a bit crazy” moment of him interrupting Taylor Swift at the VMAs.

Before all of that, and before Kanye even known as a rapper, he was a producer who was building a reputation for himself.  He specialised in a sound where he manipulated old soul samples and arranged beats behind them.  

West struggled to be taken seriously as a rapper and had a potential major label deal shot down before it could even happen.   He was eventually signed to Roc-a-Fella Records and set about recording his debut.

The production sounds good.  From the beats and gospel choir of “Jesus Walks” to the seamless blending of an RnB/soul vocal with West’s raps in "All Falls Down".  I can understand the reticence about signing West for his lyrics though.  He grew up the son of an English professor who, for a time relocated to China to teach there, taking Kanye with her. She helped pay for his first recording efforts.  Not the standard gangsta/street résumé often associated with the genre.  

To my mind, that life could still have thrown up some interesting stories/lyrics but instead Kanye often seems to rap about expensive possessions, lash out at those he perceives as having wronged him, and even falling back on the old standard ‘braggadocio’ track (“Breathe in, Breathe out”).

If anything, I found the most interesting, endearing and honest track to be the album-closer “Last Call” where Kanye spends 12+ minutes geeking out about his process, his history, recounting (sometimes in excruciating detail) his path to getting signed and making his record and generally just talking in a direct and honest way.   It's almost like an unannotated twitter feed.

Day 0953 - Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand “Franz Ferdinand” (2004) – got it

I remember being into these guys from the off.  I saw their video for “Take Me Out” with its cool visuals.  The song seemed to have an interesting melody, then it suddenly started to decelerate (which I thought was awesome) and suddenly a danceable funky groove kicked off and I was totally hooked.

A danceable groove is something that ranked high on FF’s to-do list as they stated one of their goals was to “make music for girls to dance to”.   The music owes a heavy debt to Talking Heads’ mid-era material with its nerdy white-boy funk groove (especially second track “Tell Her Tonight”).  That mix of disco beats, and funky guitar harks back to a similar style popular in the 80s/late 70s and would soon become widely popular with artists such as Bloc Party and Gossip.

The band recorded with producer Tore Johansson, who had helmed the Cardigan’s brilliant “First Band on the Moon” (see day 832) which featured a similar catchy mix of dance beats and funky guitar.

The album is nice and concise coming in under the 40-minute mark.  There are bursts of punky energy on songs like “Darts of Pleasure” and “This Fire”.  “The Dark of the Matinée” (a personal favourite of mine) has almost a theatricality to it that always brings to mind early Split Enz.

Day 0952 - Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds "Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus" (2004) - got it

 

I'm a big Nick Cave fan, but releasing a double album as a follow-up to the uncharacteristically lacklustre "Nocturama" did not seem like the best idea.   But, this seems to be a case of something I've talked about before, where artists can creatively fire up for a period of time (and should probably mine that vein while they can) but then fizzle out in others.   Nick Cave was definitely on fire here.

The first disc (Abattoir) is all power, opening with the crash of high power gospel rocker "Get Ready For Love" which I've always felt is about people missing out on everyday miracles because they're too busy waiting for 'a sign'.   The disc proceeds through grinding twisted blues rock in "Hiding Away", upbeat melodic rocking songs with "There She Goes My Beautiful World.   It is surprisingly short on fat ending on the uplifting "Let the Bells Ring" and then "Fable of the Brown Ape" that feels like it would fit nicely on 'Let Love Rule' next to a track like "Red Right Hand".

The second disc (Lyre) starts on a more sedate note with the unrelenting murder-folk of the title track.   A lighter folk informs the love songs "Breathless" and "Babe You Turn Me On" which features the gently murmured line "I put one hand on your round ripe heart, and the other down your panties".  Putting that line in a love song just seems to nicely sum up Cave's mix of the intimate/yearning and naughty/perverse.   "Supernaturally" is nicely propulsive piano-centred track and adds a little variety against the first few quieter tracks.   

This disc feels like maybe it could have lost a track and still been pretty good, but maybe the mellower sound was just less gripping than the bump and grind of Abattoir.   It starts and ends well at least.

This was the band's first album without guitarist Blixa Bargeld.  It would be unfair to lay the success of this album and the inadequacies of the previous release totally at Bargeld's door, but possibly removing one cook helped improve the broth?

Day 0951 - Rejoicing in the Hands

 Devendra Banhart "Rejoicing in the Hands" (2004)

I'm 50/50 on this one.  There are some interesting sounds on here, with compositional ideas ranging from dusty Americana, Eastern influences and indie-folk.  It's a pretty stripped down record mostly centring around Banhart's high, tremulous voice and nimble guitar.    

 

On the other hand, I got a little tired of the constant count-ins at the start of every second track.  Not particularly difficult to edit out.. "yeah we get it, you're not recording in a professional studio and it's all very DIY".   Also, the stripped down sound and shortness of most of the tracks started to grate on me.  As much as I often prefer songs not to overstay their welcome, I fee like some of the songs here could have used a bit more time to connect with the listener.

In that respect, some of my favourite parts on the album are when it changes up its approach, such as penultimate track "Insect Eyes" taking around 5 minutes to make its point. "When the Sun Shone on Vetiver" provides a welcome change of sound with string arrangements mixing melodic parts with scratchy discordant strings.

"Fall" sounded familiar but I'm not sure if I've heard that song or if it' just Banhart's general sound that's familiar.

Day 0950 - Fever to Tell

Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Fever to Tell” (2004)

I’ve been aware of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and their singer Karen O for a while, but I’ve not investigated much of what they do outside of what I ran into on music tv.  

Listening to this album, while I don’t know if they deserve every scrap of hype they’ve received, I can certainly see the appeal.  The band play wild arty punk rock with drums, guitar (no bass as was the style at the time) and Karen O’s wild vocals that run the gamut from coy croons to hot-blooded yelps.

O and guitarist Nick Zinner had originally put together an acoustic duo but decided to form a noisy avant punk band like the ones O had experienced via art school.   They enlisted an acquaintance of O’s, Brian Chase on drums who was studying jazz (usually a good skill-set on a drummer).  They quickly built up a ‘buzz’ and did tours with hot-tickets the Strokes and the White Stripes and landed a spot at the SXSW festival.

The band opted to fund their debut recording themselves and enlisted Dave Sitek from the often brilliant TV on the Radio to produce the album.

In amongst the art punk stylings there is enough variety to keep things ticking along with some catchier parts and a song like "Man" which has an almost dangerous bluesy slant.  “Maps” offers up a mellower, more melodic reprieve from the maelstrom, as does the dreamy closing track “Modern Romance” and the subsequent ‘secret track’

 The music is complemented by the band's strong visual, from their arresting album cover, to O’s on-stage fashion which mixes punk, catwalk and fabulous.

Day 0949 - Elephant

I was saying earlier that I didn't know how this decade of the book would play out and how they'd choose entries without the proof of longevity or influence on other artists to recommend them.   Well I've noticed they do seem to be working through the years quicker, with maybe less than 10 entries for some years whereas the 60s-90s' years tended to have a lot more albums represented. 

0949

The White Stripes “Elephant” (2003)

Another reasonably tight, concise bit of rock from the White Stripes.

Following on from the mainstream success of “White Blood Cells” (see day 929) the Stripes buckled down to work on their fourth album.   They used only old analogue recording equipment because that was Jack White’s whole anti-technology obsession at the time.

The album starts off strong with the big single “Seven Nation Army” which has an economical but effective arrangement, paring a memorable octaved-down single-string guitar line with a thumping tom drum, breaking out into trebly distorted guitar with splashy cymbals for the vocal-less chorus.   The second track “Black Math” almost has a bit of a punky bent to it (as does later track “Girl you Have no Faith in Medicine”).  

While the other songs are good, I do feel like the album/band start to lose their punch.  The third track “There’s no Home for You Here” sounds like a re-tread of “Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground” from the previous album, but with the raucous choruses replaced with vocal harmonies.  I also notice that a lot of the songs seem to start in a similar key or even with a same chord leading me to think that White’s voice, though distinctive and strong may not have the broadest range.

As I say though, still a strong album.  Some other highlights include “In the Cold Cold Night” which is a nice bluesy ballad with Meg on vocals; “I want to be the boy to warm your mother’s heart” which is a piano-based track with a country-sounding lead break; and the other big single from the album “Hardest Button to Button”.

Day 0948 - Deloused in the Comatorium

The Mars Volta "Deloused in the Comatorium" (2003)

Post-hardcore band At the Drive-in were coming close to commercial success when they broke up.  From the ashes of AtD-i, two bands continued on, Sparta and Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala's Mars Volta.

Mars Volta brought in aspects of Rodríguez-López Puerto-Rican heritage, the duo's love of afro-beat and their desire to spread out musically.   There are busy grooves, long instrumental passages, big powerful vocal parts and even hints of math-metal.  "Drunkship of Lanterns" features all of these elements with Bixler-Zavala's voice bursting forth with passionate wails.

I missed the initial hype around At the Drive-in and came to this band via the odd video for single "Televators" which, with its slow sinister melodicism, interesting lead parts and great vocal harmonies reeled me in straight away.   While I'm not a devout fan of the band I've always enjoyed the parts of their work I've listened to.

The album was produced by Rick Rubin which probably explains how they came to have Flea playing bass on nearly every track and John Frusciante sitting in on one song.   Frusciante and Rodríguez-López would continue to collaborate in the ensuing years.

Day 0947 - Boy in da Corner

Dizzee Rascal "Boy in da Corner" (2003)

This was actually not quite what I was expecting.  I'd gotten used to his more radio-friendly releases like Bonkers, Bassline Junkie, or that song with Calvin Harris.  Dizzee's first release though is a trailblazer for the Grime genre, mixing hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, dub in a way that often almost does away with melody in favour of rhythm and energy.

There's the broken beat and synth line of "Sittin' Here", the banging beat and dirty bass of "I Luv U" and the digital beat and occasional bleeps of "Live O".   "Brand New Day" has an almost childlike backing track but one that's slightly distorted to make it seem off-kilter.   That vibe matches some of the lyrics which show the mindset of growing up in the sometimes depressing, sometimes violent environment of the housing projects.

Coming up from this background Dizzee latched onto music as something that he was good at and could funnel his energies into, and was DJing and MCing from his early teens.   This, his debut album, was released when he was around 18 or 19 and managed to win the coveted Mercury Prize... so, obviously he was onto something.

Day 0946 - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Outkast “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” (2003) – got it

This is a lot!   

• Two discs
• Over two hours of music 
• Multiple guest collaborators 
• Covering a range of styles and genres.

Following the success of “Stankonia” (see day 921) and a follow-up single “The Whole World” to help promote their greatest hits collection, the duo started working on new music.   Initially they worked separately with plans towards maybe doing a solo album each, but then they came together in the studio and further developed the album as a split/double Outkast album.   Though the two releases largely each the work of an individual member, 3000 and Big Boi still contributed to and influenced each other’s music.

It would be easy enough to just write off this album (and maybe the group as a whole) as “Andre 3000 is the quirky flamboyant one and Big Boi is the straight-up hip hop guy” but that’s not really being fair to either of them.

True, Big Boi’s “Speakerboxxx” is more centred on hip-hop but there is still a range of styles packed in there.   The first track proper “Ghetto Musick” explodes with a heart-pumping, almost techno beat, wild synth sounds and speedy raps.  Breaks for soulful gospel vocals and organ keep you guessing.   “Bowtie” has a horn backed swagger.

There’s a strong P-Funk vibe to proceedings, both with the music, vocal harmonies and even via the high-pitch pitch-shifted vocal that pops up across several tracks.

The Love Below has more of a pop and psychedelic vibe (some comparisons to made with Prince).  There's the innocent alien pop of "Protoype" the jazz-meets-dance interpretation of "My Favourite Things" and of course the propulsive funky pop of singles "Roses" and "Hey Ya".

It's hard to know what to make of this all in all.  It could just have easily been two solo albums instead of an Outkast album.   Taking it as one thing, it is cumbersome.  But, unlike a lot of double albums, this one doesn't feel like it could easily be trimmed down to a single cohesive album, it's not laden with filler.   

 

I used to prefer the Love Below for its melody and musical diversity but I've since come to appreciate Speakerboxxx for its conciseness, and that it manages to exhibit great diversity with a little more internal cohesion.

Day 0945 - Under Construction

Missy Elliott "Under Construction" (2002)

Missy continued her collaboration with Timbaland, bringing a lot of classic hip-hop sounds into the mix and reminiscing on the 'good old days' a bit with "Back in the Day" featuring Jay Z.   

The album has a few guests and collaborators, but Missy easily rules the roost.   Ludacris guests on "Gossip Folks" but Missy again is the centre of attention, completely changing her vocal style for the track and still busting some great rhymes.

Single "Work it" has a fairly simple arrangement of skeletal beat and synthline with a synthy hook that swings in now and then.  Most its appeal then comes again from Missy's vocals.  She manages to make a dirty-as song where half of it dances around its subject, but you know exactly what she's talking about.   Sound effects and clever use of reverse sounds complete the picture.

Beyonce shows up on "Nothing Out There for Me" one of the albums more melodic moments.   

The spoken word parts at the start and end of the album could easily have come across as a bit cheesy, but again Missy manages to make them work.  The opening speech reflects the World Trade Centre attacks and show that (thinking back a few entries to Bruce Springsteen) this was a hurt being felt by artists across a range of genres.

Day 0944 - Phrenology

The Roots “Phrenology” (2002) – got it

Considering the Roots now have a prolific discography and are prominent as the house band for 'the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon', they had relatively humble beginnings.  Drummer ?uestlove and rapper Black Thought would busk on the street with ?uest playing on buckets.   The group kept a reasonably organic sound as they developed into their first recordings, playing with live musicians and mixing jazz sounds into their backing tracks.

Over their first few albums their line-up changed a bit.  They experimented with some different genres, and formed the Soulquarians collective which (as previously mentioned) also worked on albums by Erykah Badu and Common.

Their fifth album 'Phrenology' is bursting with music, from the brief explosion of hardcore in "!!!!!!!", the funky soul of "The Seed (2.0)", the jazz-backed rap of "Something in the Way of Things".    There's the Epic track “Water” which swings from hiphop to a run through what almost sounds like an Ennio Morricone score and an almost avant outro.

The closing song hidden in the tracklisting as an untitled track and mixes hip-hop in with electronica.   Basically these guys can touch upon any area of music they like and it seems to work.

Really need to check out some more of their stuff, I kind of lost track of them after the following album "The Tipping Point".

Day 0943 - Sea Change

Beck “Sea Change” (2002) – got it

Relationship breakups sometimes make for the best albums.  That was the case with the end of Beck’s 9-year relationship to his fiancée, after she cheated on him.  What to do when your heart has been broken by a cheatin’ woman…. Go country of course!

Beck wrote most of the songs in a week and then sat on them for a while.  He felt that the songs were too personal and that recording/releasing them would seem like airing his dirty laundry.  Not a surprising attitude for a guy who’d previously made his name laying abstract and cynical lyrics over a rapidly shifting collection of musical genres and sampled sounds.  Eventually he decided the breakup theme was universal enough to not seem too self-indulgent and recorded the songs.

‘Sea Change’ lives up to its name with Beck largely shelving his genre-splicing approach to largely stick with a ballady alt-country sound, and as mentioned, displaying much greater introspection with his lyrics.

There are still interesting audio touches.  The opening track “the Golden Age” is, on the face of it, a pretty straightforward ballad but with atmospheric washes of noise underneath.  The following track “Paper Tigers” has an almost Jean-Claude Vannier/Serge Gainsbourg vibe to its sound and string arrangements.   Strings are one of the main embellishments on the album and range from subtle backing to bombastic attack.   The mood througout is definitely sombre, with song titles like “Lost Cause” “Lonesome Tears” and “I Guess I’m doing Fine”.

The album manages to maintain its quality without a 'side B slump'.   A couple of the last few tracks "Sunday Sun" and "The Little One" kind of have hints of Chris Cornell's slanted melodic sensibilities, maybe with touches of Radiohead thrown into the mix.   Radiohead's regular collaborator Nigel Godrich produces, so one of those influences is perhaps unsurprising.