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 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 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 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 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 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 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 0929 - White Blood Cells

The White Stripes “White Blood Cells” (2001)

For some reason I’ve always kicked against the White Stripes.  I think in part it was that they were so hyped when they first came over here, like some kind of ‘second coming of rock’.  Partly too it was this vibe I got that Jack White was trying just a bit too hard to be this “back to basics no frills rock dude who eschews bass (how dare he) to have his two-piece rock band”.   The cynical 90s teen in me balked at these things.

On reflection though, and setting aside all of that, they are just a good band.   White’s high strong voice is distinctive and the music (though borrowing very heavily from blues and 70s garage rock) is catchy yet punchy.

The album is a nice concise 40-odd minutes despite being 16 tracks long.  That’s also something that I usually like, an album that doesn’t muck around and with songs that don’t overstay their welcome, so again it was a bit foolish of me to cut off my nose to spite my ears (so to speak).  Opener “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” is propelled by Meg’s simple but effective drumming in a nice slow lope which is contrasted with the following track “Hotel Yorba” with its speedy acoustic guitar and almost rockabilly feel.

“Fell in Love with a Girl” is the obvious catchy rock hit that everyone knows, and I certainly don’t dislike it, even after the saturation play it got back in the day.   “We’re Going to be Friends” has a kind of naïve cuteness to it which the band were presumably courting with their peppermint stripe motif and story that they were brother and sister (they were actually husband and wife with Jack Gillis having taken his wife Meg White’s surname).

Rock, blues and country mix in a catchy package.  I’m still not convinced at the band’s divinity, but I can admit that they’ve made some pretty good music over their career.

Day 0912 - Mama's Gun

Erykah Badu "Mama's Gun" (2000)

 

Badu is another artist with a long musical history, having sung from a young age and been rapping since she was a teen.   She studied performing arts, recorded a demo and this led to her recording a duet with neo-soul aritst D'Angelo.

From there Badu's deubt album "Baduizm" was a success but she then took time off to be with her newborn son to Outkast rapper Andre Benjamin.   The relationship with Benjamin broke down and both parties expressed this through their music: Outkast's "Miss Jackson" and tracks on Badu's second album "Mama's Gun".

The sound has a bit of neo-soul going on but it's a bit of an organic, live-instrument mix of funk, jazz and hip-hop too... not surprising then that one of Badu's collaborators is ?uestlove whose group the Roots mines a similar musical vein.   Badu's voice is her game changer though.  She can to do soul singing and rap, but then on a song like "Green Eyes" she can switch into a straight-up jazz singer.

The tracks "Orange Moon" and "In Love With You" sounded familiar to me.   Good album!

Day 0911 - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea

PJ Harvey “Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea” (2000) got it

 

PJ had been based in New York to do some acting work, wrote some songs and decided to live there for a time.   She was insistent that this was not her “New York album” but there is certainly a bit of a musical link to American alt-rock and punk.  In opening track “Big Exit” her vocal delivery sounds not unlike favourite NY son Lou Reed (though the drawl-meets-snarl vocal may just be Harvey’s own developing vocal style).  

Some of the lyrical content is definitely more American with “Something you Said’ listing off places and events in NY, and “Big Exit’s” gun fixation certainly sounds a lot more American than British.

The album has an overall more melodic and polished sound than PJ’s previous albums, though “This is Love” is still a fairly noisy rawk song that places swagger over sophistication.  Each verse consisting of a couple of repeated lines e.g.
“I can't believe that life's so complex
When I just want to sit here and watch you undress”.

Single “Good Fortune” has a nice folk-rock vibe to it and I think it was actually the first PJ Harvey song that I ever heard…. Well it was either that or “One time too many” from the (surprisingly good) “Batman Forever” soundtrack.

PJ continues to be an interesting musical force.  I’m slightly disappointed that the list doesn’t feature her “White Chalk” album where she challenged herself by switching to composing and recording on piano and singing in the upper reaches of her register.  The result was a beautiful yet uncomfortable listen.   She is well represented on the list though, so I can’t really complain.

Day 0905 - Red Dirt Girl

Emmylou Harris "Red Dirt Girl" (2000)

The third entry here featuring Emmylou (her 1975 album "Pieces of the Sky" was day 336 and the "Trio" album with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt was day 588).   Emmylou had gone from releasing an album every year or two in the 1980s to a much slower/lower output in the 90s.   Her 1995 album "Wrecking Ball" with regular U2 producer Daniel Lanois added a little extra atmosphere to her sound and was critically lauded.  

It took her a solid 4-5 years to follow it up with this album, which was different from her usual releases in that she wrote or co-wrote nearly every song.   It's not like she'd been slacking in the meantime though, with live albums and collaborations (including a second 'Trio' album) in the meantime.

The music is nice enough.  Kind of a folky alt-country vibe.   "Tragedy" has atmospheric looprf beats not dissimilar to "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks.   "My Baby Needs a Shephard" has lovely waves of vocal harmonies rising up on its folky arrangements.   

I don't really have too much more to say about this one.   Perfectly listenable, but not one I'll rush to revisit.

Day 0904 - Sincere

M.J. Cole "Sincere" (2000)

 

Cole was classically trained in oboe and piano.  He got a job as a tape operator and sound engineer for a drum and bass label which fuelled a love for electronic music.

I was kind of surprised at first.  I'd read something about him being into garage so I'd assumed it was garage-rock as that genre was due to become big in the next few years; instead it was the electronic genre of garage  ...I guess it makes sense.  You have house music, why wouldn't you have garage music?  I'm sure the garden shed music is just around the corner.

To my electronica layman's ears this sounds like interesting enough electronic music with touches of pop and soul, but nothing I feel I'll need to revisit.   The most interesting parts to me are the poppier ones like 70 funk-esque track "Rough Out Here" or single "Crazy Love" with its belting vocal.

There are some hints of Cole's classical training with pianos and strings popping up in places.  

Day 0901 - The Virgin Suicides (Soundtrack)

Air “The Virgin Suicides (Soundtrack)” (2000) – got it

Air’s debut album “Moon Safari” (entry 874) had been chilling people out for a year or two, and then the French duo reappeared scoring Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut ‘Virgin Suicides’, the film adaptation of Jeffery Eugenides’ novel.

The film is full of beauty and bleakness, life and death.  The music offsets this with a quality that is dreamy, yet with an underlying darkness.  A vibe not unlike Angelo Badalementi’s work for David Lynch on Twin Peaks.

The opening track "Playground Love" is a dreamy electro indie-pop track, but much of the rest of the album is instrumental with a few melodic themes repeated on different tracks like one of Marvin Gaye's song-suite albums.   

There's a vaguely trippy 70s-era Pink Floydian vibe to some of the music, particularly closing track "Suicide Underground" which also features narration from the film, linking the score back to its source.

Day 0883 - 69 Love Songs

The Magnetic Fields “69 Love Songs” (1999)

My first thought on reading about this one was “why would anyone do this?!” both to themselves and to the listener.   

 

The title is not a misnomer or an exaggeration, there are actually 69 songs.   

Three discs.  

Nearly 3 hours of music to work through.  It is a veritable musical marathon.
 

It’s that marathon aspect which is offputting rather than the actual music, which is not unenjoyable for the most part, it covers a range of genres and styles.  To my ears the ‘base sound’ is an indie pop-rock akin to the Violent Femmes, but the music goes from 60s hippy folk to 80s synth pop, stopping in along with way to visit jazz, reggae, morose Leonard Cohen style ballads (well rendered with singer Stephin Merritt’s deep baritone), country, and 70s pop rock. 

A lot of the songs clock in well under 2 minutes, which is something of a relief given the number of tracks, but can also make the listening experience a bit dizzying and harder to latch onto.

Day 0877 - Devil Without a Cause

Kid Rock “Devil Without a Cause” (1998)

 

These days it can be easy to just think of Kid Rock as the grinning grease-stain in ‘stars and stripes’ pants playing golf with Donald Trump and forget that he used to be a musician.

Rock’s association with Trump seems appropriate as his lyrics dwell in misogyny, greed and lashing out at those who he felt had not helped him or had held him back.  On the title track he classily invites his detractors to “shut up or put his balls in their mouths”.

Rock’s lyrics reflect his reinvention from straight hip-hop to his ‘cowboy pimp rockstar’ persona.   Revelling in his sleaze and trashiness as he goes on about ‘bitches’ and ‘hoes’ and a ‘hose’ (a garden hose made of solid gold, don’tcha know).

Lyrics aside though, I do find it hard to fault the album musically.  From the opening chant and stonking riffs of single “Bawitdaba” into the mix of styles on the twangy country “Cowboy” which almost feels like it could be a Beck song.   There’s the Rage Against the Machine-esque but ridiculously titled “Fist of Rage”.   All in all, the music is an interesting mix of hiphop, metal, country and even a touch of funk.  

The main issue then (aside from the lyrics) is that the runtime is in excess of 70 minutes (ditto with a few of the albums in this part of the list).  It’s hard to maintain interest for that length of runtime unless it’s a release from one of your absolute favourite artists.

Day 0871 - Celebrity Skin

Hole "Celebrity Skin" (1998)

After finishing touring their "Live Through This" album, Hole took time out to pursue various individual projects (most notably Courtney Love's excellent performance in the film "the People Vs Larry Flint" with Woody Harrelson).  They regrouped and started working on new music but were having trouble finding their groove.

They decamped to LA and enlisted the help of Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan as an executive producer.  Corgan ended up co-writing the music for a number of the songs.  Meanwhile, Love decided to base her lyrics around the theme of California, both the ideal and the reality (a vein mined by Mr Bungle and the Red Hot Chili Peppers around the same time).  Even then the sessions were not without their problems, with producer Michael Beinhorn bullying drummer Patty Schemel and convincing Love to go with a session drummer instead, leading to Schemel quitting the band.

The music, collaborators and theme saw them move further away from their initial noisy, punky beginnings to a kind of washed out, hungover version of sunny California pop.  They still have some raging moments such as on the title track and "Playing Your Song".   Corgan's gift for melodic, catchy rock is noticeable on the title track and single "Malibu", but guitarist Eric Erlandson acquits himself nicely with melodic-yet-raw tracks like "Northern Star" and "Heaven Tonight".

Love makes the whole thing her own, ably supported by new bass player Melissa Auf der Maur's strong backing vocals.

Day 0870 - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” (1998)

Following the Fugee’s phenomenally successful album 'the Score', Hill helped fellow Fugee Wyclef Jean with his solo album, then started on her own.  She struck writers block but found a well of inspiration following the birth of her first child.

The resultant album is brilliant and powerful.  Hill mixes RnB, pop, hip-hop and dub but manages to make it all sit together cohesively.

After a brief school roll-call styled intro, the album hits the ground running with "Lost Ones" with Hill rapping over a sparse but funky track that kind of brings to mind the Roots for some reason.   The album almost immediately switches gears to deliver the soulful pop of "Ex-Factor".

Lauryn switches back and forth between rapping ("Final Hour" is as good a set of rhymes as any of her contemporaries) and singing (like on the beautifully harmonised "I Used to Love Him").  

To date, this appears to be the only full-length solo release from Lauryn Hill.   Quality over quantity I guess.

Day 0869 - Ray of Light

Madonna “Ray of Light”

When a long-standing popular artist starts dabbling in the musical fashion of the day, it can often be an embarrassing and ineffective attempt to stay relevant.  I think that Madonna is different in this respect because (a) she works with good people, like producer/remixer extraordinaire William Orbit, and (b) she commits to the new direction.  She doesn’t try and just do what she was doing before but adopting affectations of the genre she’s working with, she fully ‘leans in’ to it and changes her vocal style to suit.

Mads had recently become a mother and embraced Kabballah, which led to a more reflective approach to her songwriting.

There’s the moody, electronic minimalism of album opener “Drowned World” and closer “Mer Girl”.  Lead single “Frozen” is similarly restrained and moody but bursts forth into a beautiful string arrangement.

The euphoric poppy title track almost feels out of place among the other material, but does link into the more middle-eastern sound that is being explored elsewhere on the album.  "Candy Perfume Girl" has a nice funky, loping groove, and there’s a song in Sanskrit "Shanti/Ashtangi".

Though I’m less of a fan of some of her more recent work, with Madonna’ s mixing of genres, her acting work and releasing books ranging from children’s books to books of erotica, I hope that when she does depart the mortal coil that she’s remembered alongside other multi-faceted artistic chameleons like say ,Bowie.

Day 0855 - Time Out of Mind

Bob Dylan "Time Out of Mind" (1997)

Dylan had been some 6-7 years without any original material, existing instead on cover songs and revisiting his past glories.   He reunited with producer Daniel Lanois, regular producer for U2, and Peter Gabriel, and who had also produced Dylan's own "Oh Mercy" album.

By all accounts the sessions seem to have been cluttered with two drummers and  a multitude of other musicians on the sessions.... I'm sure Phil Spector would have approved.

Dylan later expressed mixed feelings about the recording, and one critic described it as Lanois' CV... well if that's the case, I'd hire him.   I really enjoyed the album.

I'm typically 50/50 on Bob Dylan as I don't focus much on lyrics and that's obviously known to be his main strength.  I'm more interested in what he's doing musically and how the words fit around that sound-wise.   From opener "Love Sick" this is a murky blues album, one of those ones that sounds like it'd make a great soundtrack for driving (maybe through a desert night).  The dense sound eases up temporarily for piano ballad "Make you feel my love" then back onto the highway for the last couple of tracks, including the epic 16+ minute closing track "Highlands".

Dylan's nasal voice had settled into a weary, gravelly drawl which suits this music nicely.

Day 0839 - Maverick a Strike

Finley Quaye "Maverick a Strike" (1997) - got it

This is a straight-up summer album.   Quaye's distinctive voice moves between laid-back delivery and ecstatic yells.

The music largely revolves around reggae and dub sounds, with a bouncing, jiving reimagining of Bob Marley via "Sunday Shining", summery reggae pop with single "Your Love gets Sweeter", the long percussion jam of "Red Rolled and Seen" and the deep soupy dub of "Supreme I Preme".

Quaye seems someone who has been dogged by hassles, whether it's a feud with Tricky after claiming that he was the trip-hop star's uncle, being booed offstage by a bunch of football fans for disparaging the team, or being charged with physically assaulting someone.   Separating the artist from the art though, this is an enjoyable listen.