Man on the Moon – DARREN HAYMAN: 12 Astronauts (Wiaiwya, 2019)
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“Among the many tributes commemorating the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo moon landing,Darren Hayman‘s whimsical pop song cycle 12 Astronauts stands out as a true curiosity. During his prolific career, the English songwriter has applied his imagination to a range of eccentric subjects, dedicating full albums to Anglocentric concepts like Britain’s open-air swimming pools (Lido), Thankful Villages (Volumes 1-3), and the 17th century Essex Witch Trials (The Violence). While the gaping frontier of space travel might seem like a significantly broader theme by Hayman‘s usual standards, he manages to zoom in on the finer points of interest concerning the 12 men who have stood on the moon, devoting a single song of historical fiction to each of them. It seems the gentle-voiced indie pop auteur who loves trains, English history, and will paint a watercolor portrait of your dog for a reasonable commission is also a lifelong space aficionado.
Meticulously researched and brimming with melody and color, 12 Astronauts sees Hayman stepping away from the bucolic folk tone of his last few outings to create one of his most engaging releases in years. Through his unique lens, one of humankind’s greatest achievements is refracted to instead focus on human elements like Neil Armstrong‘s reluctant celebrity (“Spaceman No More”), Buzz Aldrin‘s alcoholism and rocky marriage (“Low Orbit”), and Pete Conrad’s preflight anxieties back in the NASA enclave where most of the astronauts’ families lived (“Timber Cove”). From its detailed production to its unusual narratives on a familiar subject, 12 Astronauts is a creative triumph forHayman and a deeply listenable set that honors the men, flaws and all, who risked their lives in the advancement of science and human capability” (All Music)
REV REV REV: One illusion is very much like another (From ‘Kykeon’, Advanced; Fuzz Club Records, 2019)
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Distorsiones chirriantes evocadoras de los mejores noventa, guitarras abrasivas y densas, Noise de primera, sentimientos oscuros para este nuevo trabajo de los italianos REV REV REV, que aparecerá en Septiembre. El adelanto es tremendo…
“The new album, produced by James Aparicio (Spiritualized, Cult Of Dom Keller, Dead Vibrations), marks also their signing on cult indie psych label Fuzz Club. First single ‘Clutching the blade’, out last March and coinciding with their SXSW participation, was received very well on psych / shoegaze webzines and beyond.
“Kykeon” was a psychedelic drink made up of several ingredients, consumed during Eleusinian Mysteries, a set of rites, ceremonies and experiences held in the ancient Greece. Rev Rev Rev’s Kykeon is murky, ritualistic drone-rock including trance-like drumming, fuzzy reverberated guitars, tons of feedback and abrasive atonal sounds. But also Loveless-esque shoegaze sound with Laura Iacuzio’s shadowy, ethereal vocals emerging through all-consuming walls-of-noise.
A certain sense of danger and losing control runs throughout the album – but the package also includes a flight into deep space amid the stars” (Promo Sleeve)
UMMAGMA: Compass (2019)
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“Comprised of 12 tracks with a bonus track (‘Bouquet’) offered for the digital version, ‘Compass’ is beguiling in its post-genre nature. This is an album of grace and change, of familiarity and exploration, of emotion and euphoria, of sky-scraping cinematic highs and intimate and intriguing lows. This is the sound of a band allowing themselves to jump creative divides, to kick down musical barriers, and rip up the rule book or perhaps just ignore the fact that there ever was one in the first place.
This album follows on the trail of their ‘LCD’ EP with Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins) and Dean Garcia (Curve), and ‘Winter Tale’ EP with 4AD dreampop pioneer A.R.Kane. Both of these were released in 2017 to critical acclaim.
They say you can tell a lot about someone by the company that they keep, and the same holds true for a band. Ummagma’s collaborations speak volumes. Apart from these three dreampop-shoegaze icons, they’ve worked with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s Malcolm Holmes, Swervedriver’s Graham Bonnar, and nudisco kingpinAlexander Robotnick. They’ve also collaborated with Beauty in Chaos, a project that involves members of The Cure, The Mission, Ministry, The Offspring, Bauhaus, A Flock of Seagulls, Cheap Trick, Ice-T andVan Halen, among others.
This forward thinking collection of songs is not bound to fad nor fashion, time or place. Every shimmering dreamscape found here is balanced with more robust and driven grooves, sometimes even within the same song. ‘Otherwise’ projects a drifting, woozy platform through which they thread reggae infusions and delicate distant Spanish guitars into something sultry and solid yet ethereal and chameleon-like. ‘Galicticon’ hints at Vangelis-inspired soundtracks,‘LCD’ is a strident rock urge, warped and woven with strange musical motifs and gorgeous glitches, and ‘Bouquet’ is an otherworldly slice of balladry.” (Press)
RANCHO RELAXO: Doom (Trout as Lubrication Records, 2019)
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Un año después y otro álbum (en este caso un Ep) de los noruegos RANCHO RELAXO. He de reconocer que si sus primeras grabaciones me engancharon bastante más, con este Doom no termino de cogerle el gusto a la cosa. Quizás porque ya me suene demasiado reflexivo y oscuro, quizás porque The Brian Jonestown Massacre sólo hay unos. Lo cierto es que este Doom se hace demasiada bola, al menos si no quieres acercarte a un estado de ánimo demasiado sombrío. Las instrumentaciones son solventes y el ambiente general algo grandilocuente, pero en el fondo, hay algo que no termina de epatar.
THE PROCTORS: Letters to the girl (Shelflife Records, Ep, 2019)
A long and a flourish life to JANGLE POP !!
“Letters To The Girl is destined to become an future guitar pop classic. It’s coated in sunbathed jangly guitars, an incredibly catchy chorus, and Gavin and Margaret’s lovely whispy boy-girl vocals. Their Byrds-esque melodic guitar lines create a love affair with each listen. The B-side Footsteps is a glorious pop song filled with layers of synth and guitars that recalls some of Northern Picture Library’s foundest moments” (Shelflife)
THE ROYAL LANDSCAPING SOCIETY: Clean (Single, Matinée Recordings, 2019)
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“Spanish duo The Royal Landscaping Society has released 16 songs on respected international labels in the past five years and to celebrate their arrival on the Matinée roster we are releasing a special compilation of their music called ‘Means of Production’ in advance of an exclusive new 7” single later this year. Following the initial album preview ‘Goodbye’ in May, ‘Clean’ is another immaculate dose of crystalline electronic indiepop that should appeal to fans of Sarah Records bands Brighter and The Field Mice in particular. The digital single also features an ace cover of ‘I Love You More’ by K Records superstar duo The Softies. The ‘Means of Production’ album is scheduled for release later this summer!” (Matinée Recordings)
THE POPGUNS: Carrying the Fire (Ep, Matinée Recordings, 2019)
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“Borrowing its title from Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins’ autobiography, the ‘Carrying the Fire’ EP from English legends The Popguns is a space operetta that imagines a higher intelligence welcoming humans into space with advice to put their faith into reason if they want to succeed.
It begins with a piano prelude before the guitar-rock title track ‘Carrying The Fire’ erupts with barely controlled power. The higher intelligence wonders ‘What Do You Seek?’ before orbit is established and the ‘Laws Of Motion’ narrated by the very distinguished David Brand plays to a hypnotic backdrop of electronica. The operetta finishes on a light-hearted note with an acoustic bar-room sing-along ‘Drop Me Off In The Ocean’ which compares the return journey to your basic Friday evening commute home whilst looking forward to a beer in the bar.
‘Carrying The Fire’ and ‘Laws Of Motion’ also appear on the WIAIWYA compilation CD ‘The Moon And Back’ celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing” (Matineé Recordings)
DIIV: Skin game (Advanced Single, Captured Tracks, 2019)
DIIV nos avanzan su nuevo trabajo que aparecerá en octubre con este soberbio sencillo de ecos shoegazers titulado Skin Game. Si el resto del álbum es tan intensamente rico como este corte, estaremos de nuevo de enhorabuena.
“A trudging groove and wailing guitar punctuate a lulling apology on the magnetically melancholic “Taker.” According to Cole, it’s “about taking responsibility for your lies, their consequences, and the entire experience.” Meanwhile, the ominous bass line and crawling beat of “Blankenship” devolve into schizophrenic string bends as the vitriolic lyrics. Offering a dynamic denouement, the seven-minute “Acheron” flows through a hulking beat guided under gusts of lyrical fretwork and a distorted heavy apotheosis.
Even after the final strains of distortion ring out on Deceiver, these four musicians will continue to evolve. “We’re still going,” Cole leaves off. “Hopefully we’ll be doing this for a long time.”
Ultimately, DIIV’s rebirth is a hard-earned and well-deserved new beginning” (Press)
THE LEGENDS: Up! (Single, 2019)
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THE LEGENDS vuelven a la senda del Pop, pero en este caso pasan directamente de la electrónica más plúmbea y reflexiva al Pop más sencillo y de patrones más rancios. Johan Angergård sabrá lo que se hace:
– I guess I’ve been striving in the opposite direction for long enough time to allow myself to write a somewhat straight forward pop song.
HATER: Four tries down (New album ’Siesta’ out on Fire Records on the 28th of September)
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“As their reputation gathers global attention, Hater have continued to blossom making a compelling slice of angular pop music that’s dysfunctional, dreamy, tempting and teasing.
‘Four Tries Down’ presents an acute hand-tooled angular rasp, with its chiming guitar chopped out against a disengaged rhythm, topped with the dreamy ambience of Caroline Landahl’s whispered confessional that cuts through the mesmerising hum” (Fire Records)
THE BLACK KEYS: Let´s Rock (Nonesuch, Wea; 2019)
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El último trabajo de THE BLACK KEYS es calificado por algunos como el primer disco en el que los de Ohio parecieran notar ligeros síntomas de desgaste, quizás por el uso reiterado de un determinado tipo de patrón sonoro, quizás por el hecho de que aparentemente nos encontramos con un homenaje a lo más granado de bandas tótems como Lynyrd Skynyrd o Led Zeppelin (e incluso JJ Cale, ya me contaréis o al clásico de Stealers Wheel “Stuck in the middle with you”), a quienes en determinados momentos parece que nos encontramos con algo más que homenajes más o menos velados.
Ciertamente, hay instantes puntuales en los que podríamos escuchar una hit radio de los setenta. Bueno, quizás los Keys se han ganado la credibilidad suficiente como para tener un cierto bache compositivo e incluso creativo. Lo que no podemos negar en su indudable energía y su espíritu rockista en prácticamente cada trabajo que han ido publicando.
“Like many couples embarking on their second decade together, the Black Keys decided they needed to spend some time apart. Once Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney wrapped their supporting tour for 2014’s Turn Blue, the pair went their separate ways. During the next half-decade, neither musician laid low, busying themselves with production work and, in Auerbach‘s case, releasing two albums of new original material (Yours, Dreamily was the 2015 debut of his second band the Arcs, while 2017’sWaiting on a Song was his second solo record). All of that extramarital wandering pays great dividends on Let’s Rock, the duo’s first album in five years. Lighter and leaner than Turn Blue — and, ironically, considerably more colorful, too — Let’s Rock doesn’t so much find the Black Keys trying new recipes as revisiting old favorites with fresh, elevated ingredients. Blues, garage, and old soul remain at the foundation of the group’s sound, but they’ve swapped jammy excesses for over-saturated fuzz guitars and stacked vocal overdubs. Only two songs on Let’s Rock threaten to break the four-minute mark: with its lava lamp psychedelic swirl, “Walk Across the Water” drifts for a luxurious length, while the brightly skipping “Get Yourself Together” gets there quicker. This concentrated brevity makes the album play a bit like a fantasy jukebox, spinning out hooks and harmonies with abandon. Sometimes, the Black Keys accentuate this pop undercurrent — “Tell Me Lies” feels as if it’s flirting with Fleetwood Mac‘s “Little Lies,” “Sit Around and Miss You” glides down a gilded highway — which helps give the album a dreamy weightlessness even if it’s doused in layers of electric guitars. Scratch the production gloss a bit, and it’s apparent those six strings are balanced by clever drum loops and other digital flair that give the album a modern vibrancy, even if its sensibility is unabashedly retro. Perhaps all these glowing, percolating sounds don’t rock as hard and heavy as the earliest Black Keys album, but Let’s Rock has an appealing ease to its execution. It’s a good-time record designed for daylight and, after the murky Turn Blue and its ensuing hiatus, it’s refreshing to hear the Black Keys step out of the dark and into the sunshine” (All Music)
Femiguitarr – CHERRY GLAZERR: Stuffed & Ready (Secretly Canadian, 2019)
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Si de alguna manera tuviéramos que reescribir el Pop de guitarras de los noventa, seguro que CHERRY GLAZERR nos daría una muy buena pista de cómo enfocarlo, con ese sentido del hedonismo tan marcado a veces como el del sentimiento angustioso post-adolescente, siempre aderezado por unas guitarras ásperas y más que afiladas y unos estribillos gozosos. Eso sí, sus ideas feministas algo cercanas al radicalismo son algo chirriantes.
The winding path of Cherry Glazerr‘s evolution began with bandleader Clementine Creevy writing strange and often juvenile songs as a teenager and just several years later had moved through phases of quirky garage grunge to arrive at the cold, polished sheen of third album Stuffed & Ready. Always centered around Creevy‘s increasingly dark musings, each album has upped production and more accurately dialed in a re-creation of ’90s grunge angst. The muscular power chords and hyperconfident thrust of 2017’s Apocalipstick were a far cry from the spooky songs about grilled cheese sandwiches and house pets that the band started out with, and Stuffed & Ready pushes further in the direction of ’90s-modelled loud-soft alt-rock. Nowhere near the garage punk outbursts or naïve pondering that earlier versions of Cherry Glazerr reveled in, the ten songs here use gloomy guitar blasts and mid-tempo rhythmic attacks as a steady framework for the distant, angular moods ofCreevy‘s songs. The tracks that stray most from this formula are the most interesting. “Daddi” laces its eerie verses with synth arpeggios, ticking drum machine hi-hats, and manipulated vocal samples, withCreevy‘s ghostly vocals recalling early Blonde Redhead before exploding into huge choruses. Similarly, “Self-Explained” slinks along, leaving enough dynamic space for its spooky sound effects and self-conscious lyrical themes to stand out. “Wasted Nun” and “Juicy Socks” are well built with barbed-wire vocal hooks that are equal parts Creevy‘s uniquely slanted songwriting and faithful grunge worship. While these are some great moments, much of Stuffed & Ready blurs to the point of interchangeability. Themes of isolation, uncertainty, and societal anger run throughout the album, but often what could be connective statements are buried beneath predictable and overused songwriting choices. As the album goes on, melodies and song structures feel recycled, and a limited emotional range begins to show. The surgical production doesn’t add any humanity or depth to a sound that’s reaching for both, and songs that could have revealed vulnerability or complex feelings just come off as trite. While the best material here represents stylistic evolution or at least enhancement of the best parts of Cherry Glazerr‘s recent sound, Stuffed & Ready as a whole spoils quickly, fizzling from righteous anthems of anger and self-questioning into monotonous and self-absorbed alt-rock rewrites” (All Music)
Fiereza – CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: Live at Woodstock, 1969 (Craft Recordings, 2019)
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Como un glorioso adelanto al aniversario de la celebración del que fue la primera gran reunión de la contracultura Hippy se acaba de publicar este directo de la CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL en Woodstock, sí, aquel primer macrofestival en medio de la nada del condado de Sullivan, estado de Nueva York. Lo cierto es que la banda de Fogerty nunca quiso que su directo de aquella noche se publicase, puesto que acabaron bastante quemados ante el desprecio que la organización les hizo, puesto que les prometieron que actuarían a primera hora de la noche y luego los postpuso hasta mucho más allá de las doce y media, cuando la multitud se había puesto hasta arriba de ácido y de rock hippy con Grateful Dead.
Los Fogerty con Doug y Stu aparecieron y ametrallaron un repertorio demoledor que ciertamente imagino que dejaría atónitos a la mayor parte de la audiencia, que estaría a rollos más tranquilos y sedantes.
Todos sabemos que CCR fueron una banda de rock de raíces, pero parece que ese día John tuvo el día tonto, y se marcó unos solos tremendos, acompañado de sus dos guitarras de entonces, su Gibson Les Paul y su Rickenbacker 365/1969 con una ecualización preciosa y saturada que le otorga una crudeza especial a su sonido de entonces. Su hermano Tom no le va a la zaga, y hace una labor de acompañamiento más que digna junto a la sección rítmica de martillo pilón de Stu Cook y el gran Doug ‘Cosmo’ Clifford.
La Creedence estaba en su momento de mayor gloria, con varios discos publicados en el año 1969, y en un estado de forma envidiable. El bolo es tremendo, los temas, elegidos, al igual que las versiones (99 and a half, Suzie Q, I put a spell on you, Night time is the right time), que acompañan a lo más granado de su repertorio (Born on the bayou, Green river, Bootleg, Commomotion, Proud Mary, Bad moon rising…)
Toda una patada en los morros de la contracultura hippy que poblaba las praderas de Woodstock, una patada al abecedario de la marihuana. ¿Se nota mucho que siempre me ha gustado CCR?
THE SOFT CAVALRY: The Soft Cavalry (Bella Union, 2019)
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“The Soft Cavalry became something of a conversation, even couple’s therapy. Steve, says Rachel, “is always writing, his head always full of lyrics.” Rachel, says Steve, “reins me in when I get obsessed. She’s a good editor. She says my songs can still work without sections of words, that leaving spaces is OK.”
As Steve assembled songs, his invited friends – keyboardist Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev, formerly Midlake), guitarist Tom Livermore, drummer Stuart Wilkinson and multi-instrumentalist/album producer Michael helped mould the record’s breathtaking sonics. Says Steve, “I’d grown up with guitar bands and I didn’t want it to be overly guitar-y. We evolved things by trying out ideas. We’d build things up, and then strip them back, and build them again.”
As the album progressed, Rachel formed Minor Victories in 2016 while Slowdive had a gap in the schedule, alongside similarly holidaying members of Mogwai and Editors, for a self-titled album that she and Steve contributed vocal melodies and lyrics to: “it got the cogs turning on a writing and lyrical level, and gave me a certain amount of self-belief,” he says.
After he and Rachel finished their album, Steve found a name for it, out of thin air: The Soft Cavalry. “I can’t explain its literal meaning,” he says. “It just made sense.” Might Rachel be the cavalry? “Maybe! It would be subconscious, but that makes sense too, strangely.”
The Soft Cavalry will play live, starting around the album release. So, this happy accident, lovers’ story, crisis of faith, labour of love and therapy session is set to continue – Steve’s already got the next installment written, titled The Lost Decade. Lost versus found. Recovery versus self-doubt. The Soft Cavalry has arrived” (Bandcamp Notes)
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