Day 1001 & a 1/2: Postscript

I named my blog after '2001 a Space Odyssey', and much like the Kubrick film of the same name, I feel as though I’ve gone through a dizzying, disorienting kaleidoscope and come out the other side as an old man and with a baby floating around somewhere in the mix. 

My copy of the book also looks like it's seen some sh*t.   The dust cover is missing, presumed dead, the spine has been ripped off and the whole thing is scarred with coffee rings, because I'm a slob.

 Though I've been listening to, writing and posting stuff about these albums in different places at different times, I believe I listened to the first album (Sinatra "In the Wee Small Hours") around 1 June 2016 and finished up Bowie's "The Next Day" 4 December 2020.   At the time Jenni commented that it would be weird that I'm not doing the 1001 any more because I'd been doing it the entire time she'd known me at that point.

I have loved this experience though.  It has opened my ears to new music, it's made me reassess bands I maybe made some unfair assumptions about, and even made me listen more intently than I have for a while to some old favourites (I often find myself becoming more and more of a passive listener as I get older).  I've enjoyed the experience of always having something lined up to listen to while at the same time being relaxed enough about it that I could totally blow it off if there was something outside the list that I'd prefer listening to at any given time.

My music collection has been added to throughout as I've been turned on to new things, and while there are lots of albums I'd deem more deserving to be in the list, and one or two albums on the list were 'just okay', there have been few stinkers.

As the old adage goes, "talking/writing about music is like dancing about architecture" so I'll sign off here and go play some more music.... I'll probably still talk about it though.

Day 1001 - The Next Day

David Bowie “The Next Day” (2013)

So we come to the end of the road, and how appropriate that the list should end with the late-great Mr Bowie.  An artist who transcended genres, genders and seemingly even planets, and was active for nearly all of the decades represented in this list.

This was the first album Bowie had released since 2003’s “Reality” album.  He had suffered a mild heart attack during the tour for that album and had largely slid out of sight.   For his return he decided to make it a surprise, swearing his band to secrecy.   Perhaps he was less confident, it seems to have been a stop-start process.  There were initial jam sessions between Bowie, his producer Tony Visconti and Bowie's drummer, then Bowie sat with those recordings for some time.   They then got back together and Bowie started drafting in his band to flesh out the ideas.

The album was preceded by the single "Where Are We Now?" which seems like a relatively safe choice with its classic Bowie ballad sound.

Much of the rest of the album takes an art-rock approach that seems to simultaneously reference multiple eras of Bowie while also breaking new ground.  There's the Tom Waits-esque bump and grind of "Dirty Boys",  the speedy, quirk of "If You Can See Me" and the baggy-meets-Beatles of "I'd Rather Be High".

There's a bit of saxophone on some tracks like "Boss of Me" which, mixed with the bass guitar, gives the album a pleasing bit of bottom end.

This is a worthy addition to Bowie's catalogue, though I much prefer Bowie's follow-up/final album "Blackstar".  That album seemed to perfect the sound put forward by "Next Day" with some better songs and so much more weight and emotion... (hard to tell if that opinion is coloured by his death or if I would have felt the same otherwise) and also seemed a summation of Bowie's work.

Day 1000 - MBV

My Bloody Valentine "MBV" (2013)

Finally made use of that first character. 😉

I don't know that this album really tickled my fancy.   The book trumpets the fact that MBV managed to produce this album after a 20+ year break and have it sound like a continuation of their previous sound.   While I do like it when bands can still maintain their identity after a lengthy break (because it shows that their sound is very much a result of their joint chemistry) I don't know that an album following the same formula as their other releases really warranted inclusion here.   Don't get me wrong, I like what they're doing, but when it's really just more of what they were doing on their other albums on this list then I'd prefer it to have been left off rather than removing albums from artists like Gorillaz, Florence and the Machine and Gnarls Barkley from the 1001.

MBV had signed a huge recording contract after the success of their "Loveless" album (see day 685), but the band struggled through aborted recording attempts, a temporary breakup, and media speculation that vocalist/guitarist Kevin Shields might have had a breakdown and turned recluse a la Brian Wilson or Syd Barrett.   The band reformed after a number of years and toured for a bit before knuckling down to try and get their third album wrapped up.

Opening tracks "She Found Now" and "Only Tomorrow" definitely seem to pick up where the band left off with buzzy swirls of guitar and soft, not always distinct vocals.

"In Another Way" has a nice rolling dance beat to it.   "Nothing Is" builds from a great, repetitive, unrelenting yet kind of off-kilter beat.   The album closes with "Wonder 2" that sounds like it's being recorded in a hangar at a busy airport (in a good way).

As of 2021 the band have not followed up "MBV"... maybe give it another decade or so.

Day 0999 - Blunderbuss

Jack White "Blunderbuss" (2012)

Jack White didn't really need another project, what with the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather, and his various production jobs.   But it was during one of these 'hired hand' recording gigs where an artist didn't show up and White started using the band he'd assembled to record some of his own compositions instead.    It sounds as though he enjoyed the experience of being able to direct musicians to play what he wanted instead of having to work around other bandmates' ideas and wants, and that process led to this album.

The album starts in familiar enough territory for White with some rocking tracks, but mellows as it goes.  The title track is a nice string-backed country-tinged 3/4 piece, whereas "Trash Tongue Talker" picks up the pace again and has the bouncy hollerin' blues of mid-era Rolling Stones.

"Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy" almost sounds like it could have fit on Paul Simon's "Gracelands" album with its acoustic guitar and bouncy rhythm.  "On and On" is a mellow, rolling, piano-backed groove.   Closer "Take Me With You When You Go" starts with thick vocal harmonies over a Dave Brubeck-esque jazzy groove which eventually moves into a Southern Rock vibe.

It really feels like White took a lot of stuff that he'd learned from his various projects and put it on display here. I'm still not a Jack White fanatic by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd certainly listen to this again if someone else put it on.

Day 0998 - Django Django

Django Django “Django Django” (2012)

The group produced a single each year from 2009-2011 but took their time on releasing this, their debut full-length.

I was kind of interested in this one, having not even heard of this band, but with the book describing them as incorporating a multitude of styles in quite a cohesive way.  I also found it interesting (though not sure if this would directly influence their music) that the members hailed from Scotland, Ireland and Yorkshire in England.

From the opening intro track the mix of styles is born out with sounds like Morricone but with synthesizers and weightier percussion and then picks up some some 80s new-wavey flavoured vocals and synths with clean guitars.   It moves through ping-pong vocals and propulsive guitars in "Default" to a laidback 60s vibe of the bass, drums and acoustic guitar.

“Zumm Zumm” mixes folky vocal harmonies with jaunty fuzzy dance bass and almost 'world music' beats.

“Life is a Beach” almost has a kind of cheesy 60s beach movie sound to it but with 60s folk vocal harmonies and reasonably subtle melodic hints of middle-eastern and classical music.
"Skies Over Cairo" with its chanty Middle-Eastern-to-a-beat almost sounds like a poppier take on Mr Bungle's "Desert Search For Techno Allah" (high praise from a Bungle fan).   I feel like the Bungle guys would also appreciate album closer "Silver Rays" with its 60s surf-style production and Brian Wilson via the 80s sound that seems like a sunnier take on the sound of Mini Mansions.

My feel on it is that they've drawn from the previous 5 decades of music but with the lion's share of the sound coming from the 60s with 00s technology making it more contemporary.   I'd definitely be keen to check out more from these guys.

Day 0997 - Channel Orange

Frank Ocean "Channel Orange" (2012)

Frank was studying at the University of New Orleans and working on his songwriting when Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home and recording setup.  He moved to Los Angeles, worked a number of jobs and established himself as a songwriter, writing for artists like John Legend and Justin Bieber.

After a run as part of a hip-hop collective, and a songwriting gig with Def Jam records, Frank self-released a mix-tape of him singing over other artists' songs.   The release blew up and Def Jam worked with Frank to release an album of his own material.

"Channel Orange" features collaborations with John Mayer, Andre 3000 and Pharrell Williams.  The book makes comparisons to Stevie Wonder and Prince, and those seem apt.   He has that 'soul mixed with good songwriting and embracing of technology' of Stevie, and the funk and sexuality of Prince.

"Crack Rock" "Bad Religion" and "Pink Matter" were my favourites.   "Bad Religion" in particular feels like it blends the Prince/Wonder influences perfectly.

In the album Ocean told of his unrequited love of a young man when he was in his teens which, given the more than occasional homophobia found in hip-hop, was a pretty damned brave thing to do.  It would have been worthy of inclusion in the list just for that, but the music earns its place too.

Day 0996 - In Our Heads

Hot Chip “In Our Heads” (2012)

I first became aware of Hot Chip through the quirky video for their single “Over and Over”… I do seem to pick up on a lot of music that way.  I think, even though I’m a big music fan, audio alone doesn’t always grab me.  I seem to connect more to music when I have a visual ‘hook’.

The album featuring that song was their second release “The Warning”.  This is their fifth album and finds them dealing in a similar brand of intellectual, geeky, catchy electro-pop

The album veers between being so derivatively 80s (such as on “Don’t Deny Your Heart”) that if someone said “I’m sure I saw these guys open for Duran Duran on their Rio tour” it’d be understandable.  Elsewhere on “Look at Where We Are” they sound completely contemporary with a gentle soul song with clean guitar over a subdued beat.   Mostly though they fall halfway between those extremes, 80s sounds and styles with enough modern touches to keep it from being a straight copy.   "Night and Day" changes things up a bit with an aggressive groove to it that sounds like it's come from the mid-late 90s dance scene.

The band’s three vocalists give them a little extra scope too so they can have vocal harmonies going or interplay between the three of them like on “Let Me Be Him”.    

Hot Chip are kind of on that borderline where I like what they do but can't quite muster enough enthusiasm to purchase any of their albums.

Day 0995 - Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City

Kendrick Lamar "Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City" (2012)

I guess this is one of those ones where the people putting the 1001 albums together had to choose some promising newer items and hope they'd pan out.    Well, many albums, much critical acclaim, a successful soundtrack and even a damned Pulitzer later and they seem to have called it correctly on Kendrick.

Kendrick started off producing mixtapes and doing a few gigs under the name K-Dot.   As things started to pick up, he dropped the K-Dot name and released an EP and his debut.   His star was in ascendancy from early on and he was signed to Interscope Records and Dr Dre's Aftermath Entertainment.

Kendrick grew up around gangs without being involved in them.   That seems to come out in his lyrics here, reporting on the dangers and stress of the streets without revelling in it or bragging about it.   Especially a track like "The Art of Peer Pressure" where he reflects on the need to try and do the drugs and act like a tough guy when he's 'with the homies'.

For "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" Kendrick said he wanted to return to his Compton roots.   The album is mostly stripped down, focussing largely on snappy beats and low-n-slow basslines.   Something like "Backseat Freestyle" almost sounds dubby at the start and there are some similarities to Dizzee Rascal's grime sound.  Elsewhere a track like "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" has a nice jazzy guitar backing and more lyrics expressing the unease and sense of danger on the streets.

Day 0994 - D

White Denim "D" (2011)

Originally a 4-piece group called Parque Touch.  Once one of their members left, the group solidified into a trio for a couple of lo-fi psychedelic rock albums.   They then recruited a new fourth member before moving into a professional studio to record "D".

The mix of psychedelia, melody and decent recording techniques is delightful.   "Burnished" with its distorted, fiddly playing around with time signatures reminds me favourably of Soundgarden.  It then segues seamlessly into the fusiony fretboard pyrotechnics of "Back on the Farm".

The pace is pulled back then for "Street Joy" which is spacey and melodic.  Elsewhere "River to Consider" has a busy 'world music' percussion and jazz flute.   It's not all trippy melodic and psychedelic rock though.   "Is and Is and Is" er... is a solid rock track with Ian Curtis-esque vocals.   The album closes on a relaxed note with "Keys" which has kind of a laid-back Lou Reed "Transformer" vibe to it.

I don't quite rate this as an "I must rush out and buy this one" album, but definitely above average and I enjoyed it well enough.

Day 0993 - 21

Adele "21" (2011)

Ah, that old inspirational goldmine - the relationship breakup.  

Adele had wanted to create something a bit more upbeat and contemporary to follow up her debut "19".   Her first sessions weren't incredibly productive.  To add salt to the wound, she played her first track, the gospel "Take it All" to her boyfriend (it was written during a difficult period in their relationship) which contributed to the couple breaking up.   Adele threw herself into her music.

The album was recorded with a range of producers both in the UK and US, but the various tracks are held together as a cohesive album thanks to Adele's powerful, adept voice. Whether it's the piano ballad "Someone Like You", the stomp of "Rolling in the Deep" and the Northern Soul of "I'll be Waiting", Adele makes them her own.  

 

Don't have too much more to say about this one.  As much as it hangs together well, the singles clearly stand out above than the other tracks for me. I guess that's not entirely unusual for a pop album.

Day 0992 - Let England Shake

P.J. Harvey "Let England Shake" (2011)

Harvey had pushed the boat out and away from her rock sound with previous album "White Chalk" where she wrote largely on the piano and singing in highest reaches of her vocal range.   For "Let England Shake" she again changed her approach, starting with words and letting the music come from that instead of the other way around. Harvey also composed quite a bit on autoharp, so again changing things up.

The album was recorded in a church with Harvey leaving a bit of space in the arrangements, giving her collaborators (including John Parish with whom she'd recorded some albums as a duo) the chance to have input into the final work.

The title track opens the album with busy bustle of strummed instruments and tinkly lead line on what might be xylophone.  It's melody seems akin to the more unsettling but beautiful sounds of "White Chalk".   The palm-muted sparse guitar of "The Last Living Rose" recalls Harvey's earlier work but still with a gentler folkier sound.

The lyrics dwell on England, death, war and diplomacy.    Alluding to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, but with Harvey also having read up about Gallipoli and WWI in general.

The album isn't a terminal downer though.  There's some beauty there with the songs often taking on a pastoral, folky quality.   Elsewhere "The Words that Maketh Murder" almost has a hint of "Bird is the Word" by the Trashmen but with horns popping out to add colour and an interesting outro.

"Written on the Forehead" has almost ecstatic backing vocals.   Long-time collaborator (and sometime Bad Seed with Nick Cave) Mick Harvey shares vocal duties on the closing track "The Colour of the Earth".

Another daring and interesting album from Polly Jean, where she reaches outside of her comfort zone to create something that seems totally new for her, yet that also doesn't seem out of place in her body of work.

Day 0991 - Halcyon Digest

Deerhunter “Halcyon Digest” (2010)

The band were originally formed by vocalist Bradford Cox and Moses Achuleta.   Cox let someone else choose the band name as he figured the band was a short-term ‘art project’ and went on to state that he disliked the name.

The group’s bass player died in an accident and this added to the difficulties of making their first album, which was given the confrontational title "Turn it up Faggot".   The band were convinced after this to carry on recording albums and this is their fifth.   Lyrically it deals with people rewriting their memories to present the picture of their life they want to remember.

To me lots of this sounds like what I might expect it to sound like if John Lennon were alive and put in charge of a modern indie-rock band.   The gentle, stripped down "Sailing" in particular is very Lennon-esque both in the compositional style and the dreamy yet slightly cutting cadence of the singer's voice.    Lennon's love of sonic experimentation is also shared by the band with the opening track "Earthquake" is a swirl of psychedelic guitar parts over a looped percussion track that seems to mix drums with a hint of other non-musical sounds.

The drum beats are often fairly repetitive and straightforward almost like loops, though on songs like “Desire Lines” and “He Would Have Laughed” the loops are sometimes repeating over 4 bars rather than one or two, so pleasingly more engaging than they necessarily need to be.

The songs often use walls of trippy sounds, but there are some more quite nice simple tracks amongst that, like the aforementioned "Sailing" and "Basement Scene".   "Helicopter" again goes over a treated beat building simple quite folky guitar parts which swell to meet the choruses.

There are a couple of rockier tracks leading up to the finish, including "Fountain Stairs" which almost has a touch of the Dunedin Sound to it.    The last track "He Would Have Laughed" has a groove to it that's somehow busy and laidback at the same time.   Feels like Lennon mixed with a bit of Animal Collective.

Day 0990 The Archandroid

Janelle Monáe "The Archandroid" (2020) - got it

Monáe had recorded with Outkast for their "Idlewild" album/film and Big Boi suggested to his friend Sean (Puff Daddy) Combs that he check out her music.   Diddy did, listening to her music on Myspace and diddying... I mean digging it.  She was signed to Diddy's Bad Boy Records, releasing "Metropolis: Suite 1 (the Chase)" before following it up with "The Archandroid".   

The album was in the works for a year.   Monáe said that being African American people expect you to stick to one genre "and a boring genre at that".  She clearly wanted to kick against that stereotype. Even setting aside the list of collaborators (from a range of genres), just describing some of the sounds should suffice as a recommendation for the album:

"Suite II" has a classical sound to it
"Dance or Die" is dancey funk complete with horns and wah-wah guitar break
"Sir Greendown" is like 50s or 60s girl-group pop or almost similar to the Bond theme "You Only Live Twice"
"Cold War" almost makes me think of Gnarls Barkley with its Outkast-esque mix of dance beats and psych-rock topped with soaring vocals.   
In fact speaking of Outkast, the very next song features Big Boi from Outkast.
"Neon Gumbo" is a psychedelic tripout instrumental
"Come Alive (War of the Roses)" punky rockabilly with impressive rocking vocals
"Mushrooms and Roses" is psych-rock
"Make the Bus" Prince-esque psychedelic funk rock
"57821" is 60s-style hippy folk
"Say You'll Go" is ethereal strings and reverby vocals
The album closes with "BabopbyeYa" which, with its strings and horns backing Monáe's huge vocals would open any James Bond film with a crash!

Have since picked up a copy, and I'm definitely putting Janelle's other albums on my musical 'to-do' list for once I've finished up the 1001.

Day 0989 - The Queen of Denmark

John Grant "The Queen of Denmark" (2010)

Another interesting character.   Grant grew up in a religious household, which was not conducive to his nascent homosexuality, he also struggled with bullying at school.   He left the States to live in Germany, studying languages and getting work as an interpreter, waiter and even an air steward.   He returned to the US and was soon making music with the band the Czars.

The band split and Grant struggled with drug and alcohol addictions.   He returned to more mundane jobs but was eventually convinced to return to the studio to record a solo album, and here we are...

The opening track brought to mind Nick Drake, but with the angular melodic sensibilities of an Elliott Smith or a Chris Cornell.   

I really enjoyed the album.  It's one of those ones where it doesn't necessarily have an overall 'sound', but the songs are strong enough that it's quite enjoyable to move from the melodic Morricone-esque arrangement of "Marz" to the Scissor Sisters/early Elton John vibe of "Chicken Bones".   From the twee and perky McCartney-esque "Silver Platter Club" to the synthy, caustic "Jesus Hates Faggots".    

Grant's lyrics are funny, clever and sometimes self-deprecating.   Not too bad for an artist releasing his first solo album at the ripe of age of 42 (that must be like 87 in muso-years).

Day 0988 - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" (2010)

Kanye shut himself away following a few high profile bits of bad publicity, including his decision to crash the stage during the Video Music Awards to interrupt Taylor Swift as she went to accept an award for best music video.   West cited overwork and stress on his erratic behaviour, though it has since become clear that he has some reasonably serious, legitimate mental health issues.

This album is almost an insight into what is going on in his head, a huge busy mix of sounds tinged with paranoia, narcissism and brilliance.   I've always taken a passing interest in Kanye's music, yet weirdly (given its renown) I've never checked this one out.   It is actually a brilliant album.  Varied, unconventional, and fairly honest.

The first few tracks move between a vaguely churchy/gospel feel, which kind of signposted where Kanye was going to go next, and the synth-and-beat sound his previous album "808s and Heartbreak".    "Devil in a New Dress" displays a bit of old-school Kanye with the pitch-shifted soul vocal backing track, but from there there are big pulsing beats that brings the later West track "Black Skinhead" to mind.   Pitch-dropped vocals provide a vaguely nightmarish, unhinged sound.

The album is a solid block of music, with far less of the skits and interludes that usually populate hip-hop albums (including previous West outings).   Kanye had assembled teams of producers and performers and more or less lived in the studio, having 3 different studios going at once so he could work on whichever track he felt inspired to attack that day.  He also ran his ideas past his collaborators on a regular basis to refine and change the tracks.   Q-Tip described the approach as 'music by committee', but that Kanye was able to use parts of everyone's input while still doing his own thing.

Day 0987 - Brothers

The Black Keys "Brothers" (2010)

There is a lot more to the Black Keys’ history than I was aware; this is actually their 6th album!

  

The two-piece band had formed when singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach asked his friend drummer Patrick Carney to help him record some demos.  The other musicians Auerbach had asked to take part failed to show up so the two guys started jamming and recording together.

They shopped around their demo and were eventually offered a contract.  They weren't living a life of wealth and fame at first.   They had to mow lawns to raise enough money to go on tour and recorded their first few albums themselves.   As other colour-themed-name duo the White Stripes ascended to fame, the Black Keys were left being accused of imitating them or jumping on the bandwagon (an accusation even levelled by Jack White himself).

The duo teamed up with Danger Mouse to produce their album “Attack and Release” (which is one I do own) after an Ike Turner record DM had contacted them about working on fell through.   Following this Auerbach released a solo album which caused a rift between the duo as nobody had told Patrick Carney this was happening.   They eventually made up and got together to record again, which brings us to “Brothers”.  

The duo moved into a famed studio in Alabama and pursued a more stripped down sound for the album (partly to accommodate the technical limitations of their equipment).   The sound is a kind of blues with a 60s vibe to it, while still feeling really contemporary.   Auerbach's vocal track is often distorted giving the recording that hint of lo-fi.   Elsewhere, fuzzed out single-string guitar lines and wah-wah guitar add to the 60s feel.

Opener "Everlasting Light" has Auerbach crooning in falsetto which Motown-esque backing vocals drift in and out.   Single "Tighten Up" is Danger Mouse's sole production contribution to the album, and the looped drum, perky whistling sound and backing keys definitely give him away.   Danger Mouse does tend to be one of those producers where his records sound like him.  I dig his sound, so I don't see it as an inherently bad thing, but I do feel like producers should be more about bringing out the best in their 'clients' rather than making themselves a member of the band.  

Pretty sure I've heard "Howlin' for You" in a commercial somewhere, it's got an easy stomping electric blues feel.   Psychedelic organ in "The Only One" again ramps up the 60s feel.    I actually feel like their laid-back, stripped-down blues with melodic sensibility and simple but effective drumming often brings to mind parts of the Beatles' "White Album" and Let it Be" albums, especially on a track like "Unknown Brother".

In the past I've felt the 'two-person band' thing was a bit gimmicky, but I've got to admit that the Black Keys have a great sound, and Auerbach's lyrics are kind of simple yet effective, both in their emotional impact and their fit with the music.

Day 0986 - Teen Dream

Beach House "Teen Dream" (2010)

Beach House are a duo who had initially tried to work in a lo-fi way, leaning on their limitations to push them further and then often drenching the results in reverb.   

After two albums, the band signed to Sub Pop records and recorded this album.  They changed things up, going for a more sophisticated approach.   I'm just listening to one of the previous albums at the moment to get an idea of them and it seems like a similar vibe in some ways, so I guess the change in approach is around production choices (they said they used hardly any reverb this time around) and arrangement ideas.

The album opens with "Zebra" which is clean guitar and some nice layered vocals backing it.   "Walk in the Park" has a pulsing organ groove that seems like it should be a breezy Beach Boys-style piece but instead feels somehow ominous, like there's an underlying unhappiness.  Looking at the lyrics, I suspect that was intentional.  

"Better Times" starts with a nice light keyboard and starts getting subtle guitar parts coming in too.   The chorus somehow has a bit more oomph to it while still being restrained.  It eventually builds to a climax of arpeggios and vocal.  "Real Love" is a spacious piano ballad with atmospheric synth sounds in the background.

Another one where I liked the overall sound and would happily listen to it again (or check out some of their other albums).  Like it's a nice sound, but the songs didn't necessarily stick in my memory after I'd finished listening to the song/album for some reason.   

Day 0985 - XX

The XX "XX" (2010)

The band was formed by school friends Oliver Sim and Romy Madley Croft as a duo but later fleshed out by a couple of extra members.   Oliver and Romy would message each other lyric ideas and the band would work out their song ideas at night, trying not to wake the other people in the household.  Perhaps this approach led to the gentle, stripped down approach.

The band stated they were influenced by some American RnB including the production of Neptunes.  Their sound to me is almost more like stripped-down new-wave.  Some electronic beats, clean guitar and subtle synth parts.  The band have a male and female vocalist which helps provide some variety to their sound, with one or the other taking on lead vocals, or both trading lines back and forth.

The first time I listened to this album was back in 2017; I enjoyed it then and have enjoyed it on this re-listen.  Back then (and it hasn't changed) my favourite track was "Infinity" with its sultry groove and tremolo guitar, bearing some resemblance to Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game".  

Day 0984 - It's Blitz

 Yeah Yeah Yeahs “It’s Blitz!” (2009)

Whereas the YYY’s debut “Fever to Tell” (day 950) leaned on a Riot Grrl-esque art punk approach; “It’s Blitz” takes things in more of a poppy, new-wave sound, which was presumably right in the wheel-house of their producer (and TV on the Radio member) Dave Sitek.   Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ producer Nick Launay was also in the mix (so to speak).

The new sound is obvious from the off, with first track “Zero”, opening with a pulsing synth-line.  More polished than ‘Fever to Tell’ but without becoming toothless in the process.

“Soft Shock” showcases a kind of propulsive, anthemic pop, while “Skeletons” has a dreamy pop sound.  There’s a nice alt-rock groove to “Dull Life” while “Runaway” is straight-up cinematic.

Impressive that they can shift gears from their original sound like this and come up with an album that is (to my tastes) even better than what they started with.

Day 0983 - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective “Merriweather Post Pavilion” (2009)

Animal Collective are nothing if not prolific.  Along with releasing either an album or EP for every year they’ve been in existence, the individual members have released a slew of solo albums between them.  Whether or not that’s a good thing obviously depends on your opinion of the quality of their output.

My limited experience of their work (from memory, this one, previous release “Strawberry Jam”, “Centipede Hz” and Avey Tare’s’ solo album “Down There”) leads me to believe it’s not a terrible thing.   I’m not a rabid fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve never heard anything that puts me off them either.   What I find with them is something similar to some other bands from that era: that I quite enjoy it on first listen but (a) I don't retain too much memory of the songs after the fact and (b) the initial enthusiasm vanishes on re-listens.

The band had briefly parted company with their guitarist so were writing songs based more around samples and keys.   Some comparisons are made to Flaming Lips, which I could kind of hear in that it's spacey, swirling, layered psychedelic pop.  “My Girls” and “No More Runnin’”  have kind of a Beach Boys vibe to them, both in the vocal harmonies, the production, and even the timbre of the lead vocal.  “Lion in a Coma” reeks of  India-influenced Beatles.  

Again, overall there were a lot of interesting sounds, and I'd be willing to check out their other albums that come 'into my orbit' but they're not a band that are on my mind much (cool album cover though).

 

Day 0982 - Two Dancers

 Wild Beasts “Two Dancers” (2009)

The write-up in the book didn’t really give me much to go on this time around.  The blurb was heavy on praise but light on descriptive musical detail.

I quite liked the sound of it from the off.   A kind of gentle rolling bass and tom-tom drum rhythm with clean guitar and keyboards creating almost ambient soundscapes.  More prominent guitar parts pop up to contrast this, seeming to move between percussive funk, and effects laden grooves a la U2’s the Edge.

The vibe I got from the opening track “The Fun Powder Plot” was of a kind of updated take on the Talking Heads, from the funky guitar to the vocal delivery which was reminiscent of head Head David Byrne.   Elsewhere the wild falsetto vocals almost hint at Jeff Buckley.   Having two lead vocalists also gives the band a bit of variety.

I liked this well enough, but I was starting to lose interest by the end, which is surprising as it’s a fairly compact album, with 11 songs and a runtime of just 40-odd minutes.   While there was a definite ‘sound’ across the album, there was a bit of variety that should have kept it from getting too staid.  I guess their songwriting just doesn't quite do it for me (almost but not quite).

Day 0981 - Oracular Spectacular

MGMT "Oracular Spectacular" (2008)

On a couple of occasions over the years, I'd hear my friend playing these guys when I was at his house.  Each time I'd be like "oh this is cool, what is it?" Then I'd hear them the next time and be like "oh this is cool, what is it".   This shows that (a) they must be good and (b) I'm a slow learner sometimes.

The duo met at university and formed the band as a natural evolution of just hanging out talking about music.   Originally they performed and released some songs under the name Management, until they were made aware that another act was using that name, so shortened theirs to MGMT.

The band recorded their debut (as MGMT) with Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann, which probably goes some way towards explaining the dreamy psychedelic pop I find myself listening to.

"Weekend Wars" is a glorious slice of 3rd-wave psychedelic pop.   "The Youth" follows in this vein and is kind of familiar to me on this listen so was maybe one of the ones I'd heard before.  "Electric Feel" I've heard plenty of times either in commercials or just through the usual channels.   "Electric Feel" has a weird 'if disco had still been going strong in the 80s' kind of sound to it.   You could dance to it, but it's a bit lighter and synthier.     Ditto (both on the sound, and me recognising it) with the track "Kids".

"4th Dimensional Transition" takes you into more electronic, yet still psychedelic territory.   Album closer "Future Reflections" bares a slight resemblance to the Dandy Warhols' "Welcome to the Monkey House" album, though possibly that's just because they're both channelling an 80s sound through a 00s indie-pop sensibility.

Day 0980 - Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes "Fleet Foxes" (2008) - got it

I first heard Fleet Foxes probably over a decade ago.  The video for their song "Mykonos" got plenty of play late at night on our local music channel when I'd be watching TV after my evening/night shifts.   For some reason (possibly shift-related grumpiness) at the time I wanted to dislike it, but it stuck with me.   It stuck with me to the point that years later, out of the blue I found myself youtubing some of their songs and then picking up their debut album (with bonus "Sun God" EP) on vinyl.

The band were eventually signed to Sub-Pop (a label previously much more associated with the Seattle grunge movement) but not before they'd had to scrape together the money to make recordings themselves, with sessions taking places in houses/apartments of the band and their producer.

The album opens with glorious a cappella vocal harmonies on "White Winter Hymnal". Vocal harmonies go on to a recurrent feature throughout the album.  The band has a lovely lush, yet organic sound, largely built from acoustic instruments and the aforementioned vocals.   Their sound mixes indie-pop with folk, often an almost pastoral 'ye olde' folk.

The lush sound gets pared back on songs like "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" and "Oliver James" which offer Robin Peckold's high, clear voice time to really shine. His voice gives songs "He Doesn't Know Why" and "Your Protector" a sound that could be (not unfavourably) compared to the Shins.

It's an impressive debut, somehow feeling simultaneously old, contemporary and timeless all at once.

Day 0979 - Dear Science

TV on the Radio “Dear Science” (2008) – got it

I came to TV on the Radio via the project Nevermen featuring TVotR’s Tunde Adebimpe, rapper/producer Doseone and a favourite of mine Mike Patton.   When I heard about the project I decided to check out TVotR who I had been vaguely aware of (if only by name) for a while.

After a bit of youtubing I picked up their excellent full-length debut (if you don’t count the self-released “OK Calculator”, and it sounds like the band themselves don't count it much) “Desperate Youths, Bloodthirsty Babes”.  I’ve since collected all of their albums including this one.

While I found their second album “Return to Cookie Mountain” to be a bit of a muddy, messy affair audio-wise, “Dear Science” is crisp and catchy.   With the band being full of producers and multi-instrumentalists it would be easy enough for it to be a “too many cooks” situation, but they seem to find their way around it.

The album owes a debt to the 80s, without sounding derivative or ‘retro’.  It's more like the 80s is the starting point and then there are enough looped fuzzy beats, interesting production and other 00s touches to make this fully contemporary.

Opener “Halfway Home” is all glorious synths and soaring vocals, followed by “Crying” which has more than a hint of Bowie to it.   “Dancing Choose” is a favourite of mine with its pulsing beat, hand-claps and speedy vocals from Tunde.   "Golden Age" and “Red Dress” bring the funk.   “Lover’s Day” is Prince making sweet sweet love to Peter Gabriel while he does his thing.

The album nicely tows the line between melodic atmospheric pieces, and funky danceable grooves.

Day 0978 - All Hope is Gone

Slipknot "All Hope is Gone" (2008)

I’m kind of surprised to see more than one Slipknot album on this list (their self-titled debut was day 885).  More surprising is that the second selection is not their excellent third album “Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses”.  With that album they expanded their sound to include some more melodic tracks and different musical ideas, while presenting a cohesive sound that utilised all members.   Lots of memorable music there.

Apparently “All Hope is Gone” sold better, so maybe that’s why it’s here.   It opens (as many of the Slipknot albums do) with a creepy ambient track that’s not really a song as such.  The first couple of songs passed me by without really making much of an impact.

For my tastes, the album doesn’t really get going till you reach single “Psychosocial” which has a nice pulsing chug of an intro/verse and a catchy melodic chorus that keeps the momentum going.   This is followed by the melodically interesting “Dead Memories” and the crazy drum intro of thrasher “Vendetta”.   Elsewhere, “Gehenna” is a creepy horror movie piece that moves into melodic almost grungey territory in places.

After a couple more metal tracks they drop in "Snuff" which, with its emotive melodic vocal, acoustic guitar and dramatic production brings singer Corey Taylor's other band Stonesour to mind.   

 

The album closes out with the title track that is pretty unrelenting with speedy percussion, yelled vocals and speedy metal guitar.   

As suggested, I prefer "Vol.3" but this one has enough to recommend it.

Day 0977 - Third

Portishead "Third" (2008)

Portishead had kind of taken their lush, orchestral trip-hop sound to its natural conclusion.  After two albums in that style, they played their live show with an orchestra in New York and released an audio and video record of the same.

The group had been touring and recording fairly constantly and decided to take a break (also partly motivated by the divorce of one of band members).   They made a few attempts here and there to write and record new material but were concerned about repeating themselves.

Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow produced an album by The Coral and the ease with which that band laid down an album made them realise they were overthinking things somewhat.   In touch again with singer Beth Gibbons, the three swapped ideas and recordings and experimented with swapping instruments and stripping back their playing and sound.

The result in a stark contrast to their previous two albums, with their orchestral, cinematic sound being supplanted by a minimalist (melodically and arrangement-wise) electronic sound.  Though there are hints of their old reverb-soaked noir sound on tracks like "Hunter" and "Threads", even these ones feature some industrial sounds and sparser instrumentation.

“The Rip” is largely built around light acoustic guitar with some percussion sounds seeping in later on in the piece, almost reminiscent of Radiohead's early 00s work.  Actually, Kid A would be a really good reference point, both for some of the sounds and the extent of the change to their sound.

Deep Water” is an easy-strumming ukulele track with an almost cute vocoder backing vocal, which sort of acts as a palate cleanser before the industrial, and unrelenting “Machine Gun”.  MG's instrumentation mostly eschews melody in favour of a repetitive grinding rhythm that Gibbons’ voice hangs hauntingly over.

"Small" has touches of the Doors to it, with its intense organ and jazz-tinged drums.

The thing that remains most unchanged on this album is Beth Gibbons' haunting voice.  I guess its context changed, as she always seemed like an actor, fitting her voice/roll to what the music demanded.  She does the same here, but without sweeping strings and moody brass behind her, she sounds less like the noirish femme and more fragile and desperate.

Sadly, to-date the group have not yet provided us with a follow-up to this album, outside of a one-off single.

Day 0976 - Seldom Seen Kid

Elbow "Seldom Seen Kid" (2008) - got it

I had no real expectations coming into this one, though I later remembered that my wife owns some Elbow albums. I'm happy to say that is now another taste that we share.

Loved it! It has such a great mix of sonic experimentation, clever arrangements.  It keeps things interesting by changing the approach to best suit each song.

The album opens with "Starlings" which begins with reverbed guitars, gentle pulsing vocals and vocals, almost sonically evoking the birds themselves, before bursting into huge soundings of horns, very loud in the mix.    Guy Garvey's gentle vocals ride the winds between.   Such sonic picture painting is also used in "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver", which with its slow booming drums and slow strings underpinning a staccato guitar line seems to evoke a wide, beautiful city scape viewed from up high.

"The Bones of You" starts off much more stripped down with sparse guitar over a percussion groove, but it builds with fuzzed guitar and vocal harmonies that bring Muse to mind for me.  The middle section is wild guitar that wouldn't feel out of place on Radiohead's "The Bends".   But none of this is to suggest this band are derivative, these are just the nearest reference points I can draw.   For example, the band out-Black Keys the Black Keys with the bluesy rock of "Grounds for Divorce".   "An Audience With the Pope" has an angular piano-backed groove that hangs somewhere between Space (the band) and the Specials' "Ghost Town".

"The Fix" features guest vocals from Richard Hawley, and his deep croon nicely plays against Garvey's higher tone.   "Some Riot" has an almost Beatles-y/Lennon vibe to it.   "One Day Like This" has an uplifting choir backing.

After all the darting around and grand arrangements, the album ends on a subtle key with the subdued "We're Away".   Loved the journey and had no qualms about taking it back to the start and listening again a couple more times.

Day 0975 - Renaissance

Q-Tip "Renaissance" (2008)

I've seen a lot about Q-Tip, but almost always either as a member of a group (most notably Tribe Called Quest and Soulquarians) or as a producer for other artists' work, often partnering up with J-Dilla.

Q-Tip released his first solo album 'Amplified' in 1999.  A further release was abandoned by his record company and he changed labels.   After some more production work and with a 9 year gap since 'Amplified' he followed up his first release with 'The Renaissance'.

It took me a listen or two to really latch onto the album, though tracks like "You", "WeFight/WeLove" and "Life is Better" (with Norah Jones) clicked straight away for me.  I'm on my fourth listen now and the album is funky, soulful, and of course well produced.  Lots of live drum sounds prominent in the mix.   Something like "Shaka" sounds kind of retro and totally contemporary at the same time.

Day 0974 - Cross

 Justice “Cross” (2007)

The book billed Justice as successor to Daft Punk's electro-pop crown, and heaps praise on them.  All of that just, in my contrarian way, set me against it... but it won me over from the first track.

The music occasionally has touches of Daft Punk particularly on "Genesis" and "Phantom II", but they are more than just mere imitators.   Apparently they were aiming to create a 'disco opera', I don't really get that out of it but it has the kind of grand, cinematic vibe that I tend to enjoy.

"Let There be Light", is slightly discordant (in a good way) and pulsing with almost a rocking proggy bent to parts of it.   Single "D.A.N.C.E." starts with some kids sounding like the Jackson 5 and then busts into a fun disco groove.

The next few tracks delve into retro synth sounds with bursts of distorted, fuzzed out sound and are largely instrumental, but just in case you were missing lyrics and a human voice they're provided on "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy" and "DVNO"

"Stress" builds a dramatic, urgent groove around David Shire's "Night on Disco Mountain"  before seguing into what almost sounds like a Spaghetti Western theme.

Another album that was better than I'd thought it was going to be.  Happy to be proven wrong in these situations.

Day 0973 - Kala

M.I.A. "Kala" (2007)

Funnily enough I watched the doco/film about Mathangi Arulpragasam (M.I.A.) a week or so after I listened to and wrote this one up - which would have saved me a bit of reading time, but just digging around a bit and yeah she's had an interesting life.   She grew up in Sri Lanka during the civil war, surrounded by violence.   When she and her family moved to the UK she found herself surrounded instead by racism.

Arulpragasam actually started her artistic career as a visual artist.   She was becoming a respected artist in her own right when Elastica took her on board to do artwork for one of their albums.   She went on tour with them to do some filming, and the tour opener artist Peaches encouraged her to make music.   Elastica singer Justine Frischmann provided her a sequencer/drum-machine and Arulpragasam started putting together some demos, adopting the stage name M.I.A.

Frischmann's manager helped her secure a record contract and M.I.A. released her first album.   That was my first introduction to her, with the videos for "Bucky Done Gun" and "Sunshowers" getting a bit of play here in NZ.   BDG in particular wasn't really like anything I'd heard with its beats, minimal arrangements, stabs of horn and raps.

"Kala" mostly follows in this vein, mostly focussing on beats without too many instruments arranged over the top of it.  Just there to underline M.I.A.'s vocals.  There are samples of South Asian music and (just to mix things up) the Clash, with that band's "Straight to Hell" being used to create the brilliant "Paper Planes".   "Bird Flu" is all sorts of percussion wonderfulness, "Jimmy" is a bit more electro-pop.   

Great album, though I would say I was less impressed by the artist behind the art after watching the film. 😕