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 0842 - Vanishing Point

Primal Scream "Vanishing Point" (1997)

I really enjoyed Primal Scream's "Screamadelica" album where they combined rock sounds, dance sounds, and the in between 'baggy' sound.   As much as I enjoy musical variety, I felt that some of the electronic tracks didn't really sit along the more guitar-based songs, possibly it's because it was a fairly new direction for the band and they hadn't quite worked out how to properly integrate everything.   Colour me pleased then that this album still mixes its sounds but seems to have found more of a balance across the album.

The album is named after a film of the same name that the band loved.   They felt that the film's score was a bit too much like hippy music for a film about speed-jacked cross-country car antics and sought to reimagine this at least for the track "Kowalski" (the main character).  

The album also manages to work in the trip-hoppy jazz of "Get Duffy", the rock sound of "Medication", the Krautrock of "Stuka", a slightly dance-infused cover of Motörhead's eponymous track, and the 60s-spy-music-evolving-into jazzy-trip-hop-voyage of penultimate track "Trainspotting".  

Excellent album, liking what I'm hearing and should probably check out at least the album between "Screamadelica" and "Vanishing Point" some time.

Day 0762 - Haunted Dancehall

Sabres of Paradise "Haunted Dancehall" (1994)

Producer and remixer Andrew Weatherall formed Sabres with engineers Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns.  The group made acid house and dub-based music and set up their own "Sabresonic" warehouse raves.

This is a sonically interesting album of largely (maybe completely, I'm forgetting) instrumental electronica.   There are some grimey dubby baselines, moody synth-lines, interesting beats, what sound like industrial/machine noises and even a brass band at one point.  

This album would work really well as a score/soundtrack: interesting, but not overwhelming.   Hypnotic, but not repetitive in any kind of boring way.

Day 0705 - Screamadelica

Primal Scream "Screamadelica"

Primal Scream started as a duo of Jim Beatty and Bobby Gillespie.  As they developed their music and started playing live, they expanded their line-up.   Their flavour of jangly pop-rock did not go over well with punters or critics, with the band being accused of being unoriginal and bland.

The band started to get into the acid house scene and asked DJ Andrew Weatherall to remix one of their tracks.  The resulting remix of "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have" (repurposed as "Loaded") was a success and the band delved deeper into this mix of rock and dance, already being explored by bands such as the Happy Mondays and New Order.

Screamadelica actually lives up to some of the hype laid on it by the book.  It has heart, it has musical exploration, it has some catchy bits, some interesting bits and a wide range of sounds.  If it has any weaknesses for my tastes, it's maybe that some of the more electronic/remixy tracks don't necessarily sit coherently alongside the more "voice and guitar" kind of tracks.  They aren't really completely incompatible or anything though, so it just adds a little extra variety to spice up the lengthy runtime of the album.

The album wasn't a commercial or critical runaway success, but it was certainly a step up for the group, making it to number 8 in the UK charts and gaining a few accolades including the inaugural Mercury Prize.   Speaking of the Mercury Prize, looking at the calibre of the winning albums that I am familiar with I feel like I should put the other winners on my musical 'to-do' list for future investigation.  

Day 0669 - Violator

Depeche Mode "Violator" (1990)

 
After making several albums, and getting good at what they did, th'Mode decided to pare things back on their first album of the 90s.   Band-member Martin Gore described how the group had become bored with the extensive pre-production and discussions on album 'sound' that they would usually undertake before working on a release.  They decided instead to work things out on the fly in the studio with new producer Flood (New Order, Ministry, Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey, NIN etc.)

Apparently Depeche Mode were a big influence on Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, and I can hear it.  The synthline in first track "World in my Eyes" bears more than a passing resemblance to that band's sound.  The album mostly goes for sparse, but moody synth arrangements.  "Waiting for the Night" and "Clean" provide slightly fuller arrangements.

Oh it also has "Personal Jesus" on it.  Most people would at least be familiar with that or the so-so Marilyn Manson cover of it a few years later.

Day 0594 - Floodland

Sisters of Mercy "Floodland" (1987)

The Sisters bring Gothic glower... and a choir.

After their first album, a couple of members left the band.  Remaining member Andrew Eldritch then enlisted the help of Patricia Morrison (from the Gun Club) on bass and vocals, producer Jim Steinman (of Meatloaf fame) and a drum machine called Doktor Avalanche.  Together they created a relatively cold, brooding, but surprisingly 'to the point' goth-rock album.

Day 0593 - Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode "Music For the Masses" (1987)

With this album, Depeche Mode changed producers and set about shedding their more fragile synth/electronic pop for a more robust sound.  The album has fingers in genres ranging rock, electronica, goth and even pop.

Great range of sounds, from the boomy-roomy opening track "Never Let Me Down Again" through to the eerie piano and choir of album closer "Pimpf".

The band named the album ironically (much like Faith No More with their release "Album of the Year") based on its perceived lack of commercial appeal, but it ended up faring reasonably well.  It eventually sold a million copies in the US.

Day 0556 - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash

The Pogues "Rum, Sodomy & the Lash" (1985)

Produced by Elvis Costello and titled with a quote attributed to Winston Churchill (said to be his take on naval tradition), this album is like shot of whiskey snorted straight to the brain.

Costello avoided studio polish, stating that it was his job to just get out of the way and capture them in all of their "dilapidated glory".  The result is a blistering mix of celtic folk, punk energy, and MacGowan's 'gutter hymns'.  This is a brilliant album, it has heart, it has spit and snarl, it has misery, humour.  You couldn't ask for a better album for drinking, dancing and just straight-up listening.