Firstly the bad....
Christopher Owens - Lysandre: Although the reviews I'd read were average to poor, I was still hoping that this would have something to offer. Unfortunately not the case at all, and I'm really not sure what this fella is doing. If you happened to catch his often contradictory interview on Pitchfork late last year, you'd have to think that he's gone off the rails a bit. I'm very unhappy that he left Girls, but even less happy that it was to release self indulgent crap like this. Anybody who has listened to the much mentioned sax solo on one of the tracks would also be scratching their heads. What a shame.
Other albums that are no longer with me that I thought were pretty ordinary are:
Villagers-{Awayland}
The Joy Formidable-Wolf's Law
Local Natives-Hummingbird
Widowspeak - Almanac
Then the disappointing...
Veronica Falls - Waiting for Something to Happen: Not a bad album by any means, but it sounds exactly like their first one, minus a few real killer tracks. The sound, while the same, is a little more polished however there's not really anything that will make me listen to this down the track over their eponymous debut album. Pop Matters have summed it up perfectly in their album review. Not sure that the 4/10 is justified at the end just because they haven't really progressed as we'd hoped. I'd have given it a 6.
Now onto the good stuff!!
As much as I try to rotate albums and mix it up, if I want to hear...I'll play it...over and over...and over! I'm in the middle of writing a full review of the album...I'm sure you'll find it when it's done.
It's really fast paced, upbeat, toe-tapping sort of stuff...heavily laden with the sort of jangly guitars I love, cool vocal harmonies, with a few singalongs to boot. I've been busted at work quite a few times bopping around in my seat while this is playing....but I don't care. Do yourself a huge favour and head to Literature's Bandcamp page and download this for yourself.
Album closer 'Broken Chinese Chairz' just resonates on you , and sticks in your head for quite a while after it comes to an end. In fact I'm playing it in my mind right now.....
There's a bit of 'Beatles like' psychedelia to kick things off, and it also reminds me slightly of parts of the Small Faces classic 'Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake'. This is going to sound a bit weird, but I reckon if you could get in your car, with the windows down, and drive from 1967 through to 2013 then this album would be a good soundtrack for it.
There are a little too many mentions of god and the bible for my liking here, and I can't really give you any standout tracks ('San Francisco', and 'Shuggie' are probably my favs), but I'm really interested to hear what others think of this. My cousin Luke, who has a similar tastes to me reckons it's a bit like 'Alabama Shakes', which I don't really see...although to be fair, I didn't give them much of a run last year. Anyway...it's worth a listen or 2....
Albums in rotation from February. None of these are doing a hell of a lot for me on first few listens, and I'm a little disappointed in 'You're a Shadow', as I've been looking forward to this for quite a while:
Guards - In Guards We Trust
Mice Parade - Candela
Beach Fossils - Clash The Truth
Concrete Knives - Be Your Own King
Palma Violets - 180
Girls Names - The New Life
Hungry Kids of Hungary - You're a Shadow
Shout Out Louds - Optica
Golden Grrrls - Golden Grrrls
Suede - Bloodsports
I'm intending to have a bit of a rant about My Bloody Valentine's 'new' album, but I think I'll sit on it for a little bit longer. See you next month...cheers!