Day 0926 - Is This It

 The Strokes "Is This It" (2001)

One of the wave of garage rock revival bands (also known as the 'the' bands, e.g. the Strokes, the Datsuns, the Hives, the White Stripes etc.) and another of those bands given the plaudit of "Saving rock n roll".  I don't know about that, rock just seems to naturally ebb and flow rather than "die" or need "Saving".   

This is an enjoyable album though.  It's compact (under 40 minutes) and gives definite nods to its influences, Velvet Underground, and the first wave of bands influenced by them.   Definitely Julian Casablancas' vocals owe a debt to Lou Reed.   I detect a bit of 'Lust for Life' era Iggy Pop too, particularly in the rhythms of "Someday".   "Hard to Explain"  is a bit of a favourite of mine and always kind of brings Weezer (of all things) to mind.

Most of the songs have a propulsive rhythm to them, even something like "Alone, Together" which is a slower tempo track has an unrelenting beat behind it and the guitars keep pace.   The twisty turny interplay between the two guitars does offer a bit of a point of difference between the Strokes and some of their more rhythmically straight-ahead Rawk contemporaries. 

Day 0746 - Modern Life is Rubbish

 Blur “Modern Life is Rubbish” (1993) – got it

 

Blur had released their debut album “Leisure” which aligned itself stylistically with the ‘baggy’ scene, the musical movement mixing rock and dance rhythms.  The album fared well enough but things quickly went downhill.  The band came to be seen as bandwagon jumpers, they had an ill-received tour of the USA and found themselves owing quite a large sum of money, all while rival band Suede’s star was in ascension.

On the US tour, singer Damon Albarn had found himself missing the UK and listening to the pastoral, almost kitsch pop of the Kinks and formulating a bold change of direction for the next Blur album.  They all cut their hair and geared up in doc marten boots, narrow jeans and polo shirts to pose for photos under the label “British Image 1”.  The music followed suite with a more resolutely British bent to it.  Whether it was the brass band in “Sunday Sunday”, the London-centric lyrics of lead single “For Tomorrow” or Albarn's distinctive accent (labelled 'mockney' by his detractors) throughout.

It’s essentially the ‘classic’ Blur sound of upbeat pop songs with cheeky raucous vocals, lashings of backing vocals and embellished with brass bands and strings.  The clean pop doing battle with guitarist Graham Coxon’s love of noisy lo-fi indie rock and fuzzed-out distorted guitars.

But before you can get ideas about this album being all about Albarn and Coxon, the jagged bassline for “Colin Zeal” starts, with the drums and guitar coming in to create polyrythms against it, until it all congeals into the propulsive pop-rock chorus.

The band explore a range of sounds with "Miss America" being an interesting experiment in minimalism and atmosphere, that vaguely hints at Coxon's future work for "the End of the F**king World".  "Oily Water" almost bears a resemblance to what was going on in American indie-rock and "Advert" sounds like a blueprint for the faster tracks on their next two albums.

A lot of fans feel that “Modern Life…” is the best Blur album, others feel they perfected their sound with the next album “Parklife”.  My own heart lies with their murky, morose self-titled album, but I also like the fact that they don’t just settle on one sound and seem to be eternally questing for the next thing.

Day 0689 - Peggy Suicide

Julian Cope "Peggy Suicide" (1991) 

  An album from Cope's band Teardrop Explodes features earlier in this list and I did quite enjoy it; likewise, the double-album "Peggy Suicide" is a goodie.  It does suffer from that old double-album affliction of 'track fatigue', and not every song is memorable, but the sheer breadth of musical ground covered is impressive.  

I love artists who (particularly when they go solo) take the approach of just throwing everything at the wall, rather than limiting themselves musically, particularly if they have the ability to do so.

I'll say what I said with Teardrop Explodes: if another album by Cope pops up on the list, I won't be unhappy.

Day 0474 - Kilimanjaro

The Teardrop Explodes "Kilimanjaro" (1980)

The book makes several comparisons between Teardrop Explodes and Love... I'd say there are some parallels with Love's "Forever Changes" album as far as the use of orchestral flourishes and building some of the songs from innocent, simple beginnings to lush crescendos.

The album is still of its time though, so has less of an acoustic folky bent like 'Forever Changes' and more of a post-punk (heading towards new-wave) sound. Definitely wouldn't mind another album from this band to show up on the list.