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 0910 - The Hour of Bewilderbeest

Badly Drawn Boy "The Hour of Bewilderbeest" (2000)

Badly Drawn Boy (nee Damon Gough) is someone I was mainly familiar with due to his work on the "About a Boy" soundtrack and the fact that he seems to always be wearing a beanie.  I had no real feel for him or his music at all.

Gough released a string of EPs before producing this debut full-length.   The 18-track album was said to be a loose concept album describing the lifespan of a relationship.

Ambitious project as far as the narrative idea, the mix of styles (technically he's indie folk-pop but there are elements of funk, baroque pop and rock, amongst others) and as far as the amount of music on the album.   

Can't say it really won me over.  It's one of those albums where none of the music is really unpleasant.  Quite the opposite, each track was nice enough.  The problem is that none of it really stuck with me.   As each track finished it was gone from my head and I felt no real connection to the music.   With over an hour of it  (and I  played it through a couple of times) it made for a cumbersome listening experience.

Day 0881 - Apple Venus vol.1

XTC "Apple Venus vol.1" (1999) - got it

It had been 7 years since the previous XTC album.  The band had been arguing with their record label Virgin and essentially went on strike until they were allowed the freedom to do things their way.   Eventually the band left the label and were able to move forward with their music.  

Songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding had amassed over 40 songs and at first had planned to release a double album, but changed this to release two volumes.   The second Apple Venus volume "Wasp Star" would consist of more straight ahead rock/guitar songs.    Volume one though is a masterpiece of baroque pop mostly consisting of orchestral instruments and acoustic guitars.   Due to budgetary restrictions the album's orchestral parts were all recorded in one day.

From the opening pizzicato strings and dripping sounds of "River of Orchids" that build to a swirl of strings and layered vocals, the album is a gorgeous journey with hints of Beatles, Bacharach and Beach Boys while still being totally XTC.   

 

There are a couple of more light-hearted tracks ("Frivolous Tonight" and "Fruit Nut") courtesy of Moulding, but the bulk of the album is Partridge's with a McCartney-eqsue upbeat acoustic track "I'd like that".  A bitter reflection on the end of his marriage with "Your Dictionary".   Album-closer "The Last Balloon" is an appropriately elegant melodic journey with its slow keys and strings with choirs building to booming percussive accents and sailing the album away on a mournful lilting trumpet solo.

XTC are one of those musical oversights for me.   I liked and bought this album when I first skimmed through the 1001 albums book and have since bought two other of their albums... but given they have 14, I could probably delve deeper.