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Patrick Kelleher - Coat To Wear (vidéo)
Ass - My Get Up And Go Just Got Up And Went
Peering out between the mass of strings, hanging like vines, there must have been a spark of childish curiosity. From the giddy playfulness of youth all the way to the folk hinterland, Andreas Söderström aka Ass has been surrounded by instruments, exposed to the sounds of his father’s bazouki factory – an extraordinary melange of clattering noise and metallic melody.
That natural inquisitiveness has obviously paid off, and it surely can’t be a coincidence that a career in music beckoned. Trading under the pseudonym ASS – it stands for Andreas Söderström Solo – for more than a decade he has been the hitherto unknown man of Swedish pop, having played with the likes of electro-pop priestess JENNY WILSON, digital folk stalwarts TAPE, offbeat folk-pop minstrel BLOOD MUSIC, and TAKEN BY TREES, the latest incarnation of former Concretes singer Victoria Bergman.
All that will change with the release of "My Get Up and Go Just Got Up and Went", the second full-length album from Söderström under his Ass moniker. Söderström plays all of the instruments found on this quietly intoxicating 10-track record, the follow-up to his astonishingly assured, eponymous debut – both released on the fine Headspin label. It finds him hacking through the folk undergrowth, his fluid dynamic underpinning a stark melancholy which simmers throughout.
From the Britfolk finger-picking of ‘I’ve Been Here’ to the austere ‘Cool Water’, the self-taught multi-instrumentalist wrings a plaintive beauty from his fingers; penning profoundly moving, largely non-vocal entities, augmented at various points by electronic gurgles, horns and an accordion. ‘Wheels and Wings’, with its chiming guitar melody and horn counterpoint, is a rare vocal outing, Söderström’s subtle intonation adding a sweetness and warmth to proceedings.
Harking back to his debut, the elegantly swooning ‘It Only Takes Minutes’ revisits the cyclical moments found on his previous outing, but there’s an atmospheric airiness infusing this record which leavens these near-macabre hymns. Minimal and majestic, the repeated melody patterns twist in every direction, wrapping and turning in on themselves like a maypole, before loping to a folk-stained climax.
Daubing layer on top of layer on an intricately detailed canvas, Söderström’s sleight of hand in combining these varied textures is never more evident than on ‘Escape From NY’, which buzzes and throbs in unison with his rhythmic playing – there’s a sense of delicacy and wonder cloaked by a dark foretelling; a hushed but audible eeriness digging away at your subconscious, heightening that unease. The low-key majesty of Söderström’s gentle songs, like on closing track ‘Vertical Spar’, is here in abundance.
Channelling a hypnotic style which is at times reminiscent of folk legends such as Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and John Fahey, his crisp compositions nevertheless have an ultra-modernist edge to them, digital elements seeping through and sounding perfectly at home, but with a softly engaging feel rather than the clinical hum of technology.
"My Get Up and Go Just Got Up and Went" is that rare kind of record; bewitching and thought-provoking, comforting and challenging. It’s a real treat, and a chance to hear the whispered charm of a subtly disarming performer. To paraphrase George Clinton - free your mind, and Ass will follow…
Via : Dotshop
Artiste : Ass
Album : My Get Up And Go Just Got Up And Went
Origine : Suède
Date de sortie : ../../2008
Label : Headspin Recordings
Site Officiel : Ass
Myspace : Ass
Ass - It’s Really a Good Reson
Ass - Wheels and Wings
Ass - It Only Takes Minutes
Mice Parade - Focus On The Rollercoaster (vidéo)
Andy Dixon - The Mice Of Mt. Career
Mt. Career billows with a concentration of thick pop, live instrumentation, and multi-cultural musical references. It runs the gamut of emotion, from bitter sweet hooks to murky, claustrophobic dirges. Andy’s voice, guitar playing, and songwriting burst with a fresh, vibrant energy. There is a distinct but modest feeling of ‘finding his place’ living between the sounds of Mt. Career.
Andy has had a long, yet humble relationship with his music. He is currently manipulating organic sounds into electro-acoustic, pseudo-dance pieces under the moniker Secret Mommy, playing guitar and singing in the outsider improvised rock trio, Winning, and running the experimental record label, Ache Records. Because of this, it is hard to nail down an appropriate designation for The Mice of Mt. Career. It would not be accurate to call it Andy’s debut solo album, although it is his first under his own name. There is no doubt, upon listening that this is not a linear continuation of Mr. Dixon’s previous solo works. For instance, Secret Mommy, a separate solo project is routed in deep, radical sound processing, and is also primarily instrumental (the rare times that vocals are present, in Secret Mommy it is hardly ever his own). Cradled from an overlapping yet distinctively separate atmosphere as Secret Mommy, it might be more apt to call Mt. Career a sequel of sorts, or a logical progression.
The most prominent difference is the use of his own vocals. Mt. Career is not an electonica album, but a pop album awash with vocal anthems. Steering these choruses are lyrics too abstract to be preachy, yet blatant enough to be poignant. There is a socially aware and desperate sentiment present, often referencing the effects that capitalism has on the world, and more specifically, the art world. Words, ideas, and hyperboles spill sporadically over one another creating the lyrical equivalent of the great contradiction that is “The Business of Art”; a representation of the clumsy battle to earn a living while maintaining complete artistic integrity.
Another difference between Mt. Career and Andy’s alternate solo outings as Secret Mommy is the care and appreciation of the sampling. Five years ago, Andy was releasing Mommy albums thick with cheeky top 40 sampling, drenched with cynicism and retort. Now, here is The Mice of Mt. Career, an album based around a genuine gratitude for the samples chosen. Literally spanning the globe of musical references, the ten songs dive deep into world-beat obscurity. African drums spin around Ukrainian folk violins and Indian rhythms, all the while a bed of cinematic phonograph crackle conjures deep, nostalgic undertones. It is Andy’s decade long affair with experimental music production that takes the helms here. His ear for melody and composition enables the marriage of some very unlikely musical allies.
It is not entirely clear what the exact ethos of Mt Career is. There may be a handful of recognizable reference points (Bjork, Thom Yorke, Beruit), but there is no doubt that, due to its delivery, it transcends the sum of its parts. Mt. Career is birthed from the love of unbridled creation, the admiration of musicians outside of the major music industries infrastructure, and the rethinking of relationships between experimentalism and pop music.
Via : Ache Records
Artiste : Andy Dixon
Album : The Mice Of Mt. Career
Origine : Canada
Date de sortie : 13/04/2008
Label : Ache Records
Site Officiel : Andy Dixon
Myspace : Andy Dixon
Andy Dixon - Animal
Andy Dixon - Carry Your Face
Andy Dixon - Weird Weight
Port O’Brien - I Woke Up Today (vidéo)
Gablé - Seven Guitars with a Cloud of Milk
Moins gesticulateur et braillard que d’autres officines, le label Loaf est pourtant devenu l’un des plus passionnants – car audacieux et imprévisible – laboratoires de Londres, tant soniquement que graphiquement. Amoureusement emballés, ses disques évoluent ainsi dans un triangle des Bermudes délimité sans grande orthodoxie par le folk, l’electronica et la pop. Ce triangle où il fait si bon perdre ses repères s’étend aujourd’hui jusqu’à la Normandie, où Loaf a recruté deux barbus et une barbare pour exploser un peu plus encore les murs de la honte qui tentent, c’est dérisoire, de maintenir les genres séparés.
C’est avec une grande décontraction, une nonchalance rare dans le rock d’ici, où même la coolitude semble souvent bien engoncée et empruntée, que Gablé survole, sans jamais s’installer, des pans entiers de musique américaine plus ou moins déglinguée – le genre de disque qu’on rêve d’entendre, en basse fidélité mais haute fantaisie retrouvée, chez Beck.
De Pavement au Dirty Dozen Brass Band, cet univers absurde est esquissé dès la première chanson, le sidérant Noone Knows Why, où une fanfare de cuivres donne le tournis (coti, tournicoton) à une sorte de folk-punk déséspéré, pour une des chansons les plus étonnantes entendues depuis des mois. Ailleurs, on entendra du jazz, de la pop, de l’electro-funk ou du hip-hop pareillement détournés, concassés, triturés, torturés – tous genres fondus et remodelés en une symphonie enfantine et joyeuse. “Monsterland”, dit une chanson. Jamais monstres n’auront eu visages si humains, si souriants.
Via : Les Inrocks
Artiste : Gablé
Album : Seven Guitars with a Cloud of Milk
Origine : France
Date de sortie : 19/05/2008
Label : Loaf Recording
Site Officiel : Gablé
Myspace : Gablé
Gablé - Drunk Fox In London
Gablé - Tibidibim
Gablé - Puree Hip Hop
Jukebox 06.08 - Compilation
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01 - Now, Now Every Children - Sleep Through Summer
02 - Jonquil - So Far So Good
03 - Gable - Drunk Fox In London
04 - Pattern Is Movement - Right Away
05 - Familiar Trees - Here I Am
06 - Dennis Crommet - Volunteer
07 - The Instruments - Ode To The Sea
08 - Takka Takka - The Takers
09 - Sigur Rós - Gobbledigook
10 - Okay - Compass
11 - Nat Baldwin - Lake Erie
12 - My Brightest Diamond - Inside a Boy (Son Lux Remix)
13 - Kevin Drew - Safety Bricks
14 - Audrey - Rats
15 - Andy Dixon - Animal
Kevin Drew - Safety Bricks (vidéo)
Dark Captain Light Captain - Circles (ep)
London’s ever expanding (it seems) and mysteriously named Dark Captain Light Captain came together in early 2006 around the nucleus of guitarists and vocalists Neil Kleiner and Dan Carney, and have since grown into a full six-member outfit, but their music has lost nothing of the fragility it had in the early days. Circles is the band’s second release and follows last year’s debut single Jealous Enemies/Mid-Session Interval. It is also the prelude to the band’s first album, scheduled for later in the year.
Building their songs around gentle vocal layers and harmonies, brushed with acoustic guitars, soft rhythmic patterns and discreet electronics, DCLC have undoubtedly refined their sound since Jealous Enemies and developed the music lexicon which informs their work to great effect. From the overtly pastoral textures which serve as foundations for these four songs, the band draw wonderful crisp and detailed vignettes which appear to constantly change tone as each song grows.
There is a strong feeling of unity throughout this EP, an impression carried perhaps by the omnipresence of gentle, yet rich vocal harmonies, but the particularly delicate arabesques of opening song Circles are unique to this piece. While the main guitar motif continuously swirls around the main vocal line, a recurring piano pattern comes in and out of focus in the background. Robot Command Centre may seem, at first, simpler, but as the song progresses into the chorus, once again DCLC weave a wonderfully intricate and warm sonic tapestry, with fine details shimmering through the dense layers of the piece.
With no rhythmic section to support the shorter They Be Underwater and Walls, these songs appear more stripped down and fragile. On the former, DCLC compensate by laying static noises and atmospheric found sounds over the opening and closing section of the song, and by pushing the acoustic guitar a bit more toward the back to let other elements come through. The guitar returns to the forefront on Walls to create a peaceful backdrop for the tale of everyday violence
With this confident release, Dark Captain Light Captain reassert their position as one of London’s most promising acts. In just four songs, the band showcase a strong palette which relies equally on the subtlety and density of the music and the moods and tones set by the intricate vocal layering. Circles is without a shadow of a doubt one of the strongest EPs of the year so far!
Via : The Milkfactory
Artiste : Dark Captain Light Captain
Album : Cicles (EP)
Origine : Angleterre
Date de sortie : 23/06/2008
Label : Loaf Recording
Site Officiel : Dark Captain Light Captain
Myspace : Dark Captain Light Captain
Dark Captain Light Captain - Circles
Dark Captain Light Captain - Walls
Dark Captain Light Captain - Robot Command Centre
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