As I don’t seem to have found anything interesting to link to recently, I thought that I’d instead write a little about some of the new albums I’ve been listening to recently. It seems that this time of year is a favourite for 2nd and 3rd albums, while only a handful of debuts have made it into my ears. (Links are all to Spotify, sorry to anyone who can’t access it.)
Without further ado then, I’ll start with the album I’m listening to at the moment: Two Suns is the 2nd album from Bat For Lashes, the stage-name of Natasha Khan, being a follow-up to the much-acclaimed Fur and Gold, released in 2006. The new album doesn’t change much from the working formula, but it adds to the songs, making use of many more instruments and sounds and generally producing “bigger” songs. They’re still gentle, but they carry more weight and with it power.
If I were to group all of my favourite bands by nationality (and I’m not about to, it would take far too long) then I have no doubt that Canada would be up near the top. April sees the release of 3rd albums from two Canadian bands that I love to bits; Metric release Fantasies (not Spotify, everyone can listen!) and Malajube give us Labyrinthes.
Malajube are from Quebec and as such sing in french. This makes listening to their music interesting for me, as normally I pay attention to lyrics and think about what’s been said. When I can’t understand the lyrics (beyond picking out a few familiar, basic words) the vocals almost turn into just another instrument and the rhythm of what’s being said becomes more important than the content.
Help I’m Alive off the new Metric album shows what I love about Metric really well, having powerful instrumental sections demanding as much attention as Emily Haines’ wonderful singing voice. With this not (yet?) being on Spotify I haven’t listened more than a couple of times, but I do like it.
I think MSTRKRFT (also Canadian, though I only just found that out, so I’m not going to back and rewrite the last bit to include them…) will always be “that guy from Death From Above 1979” to me, even though with the release of Fist of God this guise now have more albums out. I wouldn’t put them amongst my favourites, but they do make fun music and sometimes music being fun is all it needs to be enjoyed.
Coming back to England, Micachu (aka Mica Levi) along with “The Shapes” (keyboardist & drummer) present Jewellery and it would take a lot to convince me that any album could be more fun to listen to. It’s quite short but really quite catchy and makes me want to jump around listening to it. And it makes use of a vacuum cleaner.
Also worthy of mention are Yeah Yeah Yeahs with It’s Blitz - better than Show Your Bones but not as good as Fever to Tell; and Polly Scattergood with a self-titled album in which she sings, in a quirky but cool way, 5, 6 and 7 minute songs about all manner of things.
Queued up for a second listen, I have Security Screenings from Prefuse 73, BORN LIKE THIS from Doom and Carboniferous from Zu. And I’m waiting for the new Love is All album to be online somewhere so I can see what that’s like.
