If You Go Down To The Woods Today

For this post i'm going to touch on something that I would usually avoid, namely: music videos. Now, before I begin upon my little thematic playlist, let me put the rant in Al's Music Rant for you
I've never really liked music clips - i think of them like TV advertisements. Not in their function or purpose, but in the fact that the majority of them are awful. Which means that when a good one comes along it really stands out. Too many music videos take a banal premise and run with it for the entirety of its three minutes (the bitches and bling approach), that or they'll start off well and then drop the ball or just become boring over the course of the song.
There are some great artists and directors out there who treat the music video as an artistic medium on par with their artwork, music and image; but too many bands cast off their videos as an obligation. Few are the videos that have turned me onto a new band, i might hear the track and think it's good but a bad video can really stop me from checking out more as it may show a lack of creativity. Harsh? probably Fair? definitely. The only video that springs to mind that got me on to a band i'd never heard of -with the ensuing album being thoroughly enjoyable- was Carpark North's Human.
I also revile any video that tries to cutely take a visual interpretation of the song's lyrics or the name of the band. It's too weak a concept, even for two or three minutes - so don't do it. There's an alarming tendency for artists to stick timidly to their genre. Rappers gloat for the camera while they show off their monetary prospects in slow motion, Indie kids opt for dark, jagged dance halls maybe with the occasional choreographed dance from some tre chic indie chicks, electronic artists seem allergic to appearing in their own videos instead using animation or bad actors in their stead. And so on and so forth.
I totally understand demographics and visual consistency and all that rubbish. But just once, I wish a mainstream pop artist - let's say, oooooh Britney - would work with a visionary like, mmmmmm, Michel Gondry.

....oh wait, maybe Kylie Minogue beat her to it. And guess what? i like Kylie more than Britney (sorry, Ruth).

Starting to see my point? but enough, onward and upward. Anyway, I hosted my first show for 1700 yesterday, that's right. AMR has made the leap to TV (sort of), 1700 is a live music show on Channel 31 5pm weekdays, with yours truly hosting on Thursdays with the good lass Fawn.
But enough plugging, our clip of the week was Chairlfit's Evident Utensil and it got me thinking "there's an awful lot of music clips lately that have people prancing around in a forest!" And with a little research it turns out I was absolutely right. Enjoy

Chairlift - Evident Utensil
Director - Ray Tintori

This clip uses a fancy technique called 'datamoshing' - a highly technical process whose details i won't go into here, all you need to know is it makes for a very, very cool visual. Not a bad pop song too. It's twee sing-a-long obscured by some mysterious violence that's happening visually.

MGMT - Electric Feel Director - Ray Tintori
Ah! we have an auteur on our hands, Mr. Tintori has MGMT in an equally foresty, weirdly psychedelic environment. Pretty similar sans the datamoshing technique really.

Florence & The Machine - Dog Days Are Over
Director - Tom Beard
With this knowledge in mind, I assumed that this video too was done by Ray Tintori. It's suspiciously similar in theme and tone, perhaps there's a videos in forests for cool indie conspiracy afoot. But wait maye this all started with...

Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook (NSFW Version)
Director - Arni & Kinski

It's cheeky, innocent nudity is perfect for the bouncy acoustic incanation of the track. In short, here's a video i love as it continues the album's theme and art to a visual medium. There's something playful about it too, even if it may have inspired all these videos of people prancing about in the woods.

Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body
Director - Jon Watts

Even my beloved Death Cab join the club, sure they eventually head indoors to transmit their melancholy anthem across the globe, but that opening walk through a magic(ish) forest is pretty distinctive.

Goldfrapp - A&E
Director - Dougal Wilson

In the band's defense, this is more of a glade than a forest. But still plenty of prancing about, thanks to some cool choreography and what can only be described as 'Leave Men'. Killer track too.

Mogwai - Batcat
Director - Dominic Hailstone

Bringing us to the finish is Mogwai and their genuinely scary mini-horror movie. Set in a forest sure, but a distinct lack of frivolity here. The director, Hailstone, has previously worked with Chris Cunningham and as an effects man on Harry Potter. That explains a lot...

Not with a bang, but a whimper

Hello all,
so very sorry to be absent so long but i have been a very busy bee and the usual time and effort it takes to write a post or album review, i have been putting in to my Beat magazine submissions. Speaking of which - you should be picking up Beat anyway but - you should all be picking it up from your local record store (Dixons always seem to have a bevy of them).
So that's not all that's been taking up my time - i've also been involved in a Comedy Festival show called Occupation: Ugly. This isn't quite the place to be plugging it, but if you're interested check out the Comedicate or Comedy Festival websites.

Anyhoo, i've been tinkering with another themed playlist to tickle your earbones. Enjoy.

(EDIT: Ah, it just wouldn't be a return to blogging without being served a takedown notice, so the playlist now consists of the requisite YouTube clips)

AMR's Apocalypse Playlist

OK here's the deal, songs about the end of the world - literally or metaphorically - with your usual dose of music trivia as well as a fictional account of just what kind of end of the world scenario each track would be soundtracking. So get to the bunkers! pray for your souls! It's the end of the world!

David Bowie -Five Years
The Facts: The opening of Bowie's seminal 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, a concept album in itself about the end of the world. Five Years until the end of the world, or in our case Fifteen Tracks.
The Fiction: Let's stick with the orignal, as the lyrics say "News had just come over/we had five years left to cry in

/ News guy wept and told us/ earth was really dying." What a great scenario, five years seems too soon to rectify any damage and yet far enough to have to deal with the awful dread of the inevitable end. Sounds like any evening news bulletin really...

My Chemical Romance - The End
The Facts: Concept albums are a great place to mine for armageddon scenarios, so too we have the emo royalty of My Chemical Romance and The Black Parade. Setting the tone and template for the album in sound and theme, it too helps our playlist with some dramatic posturing. The Fiction: A vast crowd of people convene and rally against the dying of light and life, marching down the city streets as the fires explode from the concrete and people collapse in the streets with jagged smiles on their faces.

Muse - Apocalypse Please
The Facts: With a brilliantly pun-tastic title and suitably apocalyptic lyrics, Bellamy charges his piano into a cacophony of rhythm supplied by his bandmates to create a suitably grandeloquent finale. The Fiction: As the last rockets escape from planet earth, those left behind - stranded - embrace their final moments as a kind of biblical miracle, as devastating as it is awe-inspiring.

Blackfield - End Of The World
The Facts: The side-project for Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson and Tel Aviv's answer to John Lennon: Aviv Geffen, Blackfield give the apocalypse an appropriately melancholy anthem. The Fiction: What if the human race weren't wiped out by a single cataclysmic event but instead had to limp on dealing with the fallout of the apocalypse? It may as well be heaven or hell really...

Gorillaz - Last Living Souls
The Facts: The end of the human race is filtered via Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's cartoon simians and their genre defying pop. The Fiction: a sea of burnt fields and craggy mountains, a small band of pilgrims wander across the landscape in search of salvation, though secretly they have abandoned all hope of ever surviving - they soldier on in unison, casting aside their grievances with a sing-a-long.

U2 - Until The End Of The World
The Facts: The theory is that this song is actually about the final hours of Jesus Christ, trust U2. But i think it works perfectly well as a modern parable for modern excess and narcissitic partying - something Jesus represents anway right? The Fiction: With the impending news of the end of the world, everyone just ignores it and gets down and dirty with mass hedonism as has never been seen before. Shopping, partying, fornicating - it's all here in one last excessive hurrah.

Dave Matthews Band - When The World Ends
The Facts: The apocalypse as love song. If your'e lucky enough to be with the one you love when the clock hits zero it would make sense to sing your love's praises until the final moments, complete with a cheekily abrupt cut-off The Fiction: A Romeo and Juliet recite their final vows as their shadows are framed by a vast mushroom cloud.

Tom McRae - End Of The World News (Dose Me Up)
The Facts: Using modern media infatuation and saturation as a metaphor, McRae's cynical lullaby decries religion and apathy as any kind of salavation from not only the end of the world, but the state of it. The Fiction: The depression and sadness of mankind is so dense, it's like a living fog that winds its way across states, oceans and people. Engulfing and consuming everything in its path.

Medeski, Martin & Wood - End Of The World Party
The Facts: Like a funky theme tune to a seventies cop show of the same name, jazz fusionists Medeski, Martin & Wood offer a glimpse to earth's last days as toe-tapping boogie. The Fiction: Against a sky of permanent midnight - humans, monsters, demons and angels all live together on the burnt out rock of Earth's once lively surface. But hey, they're all in it together.

Metallica - My Apocalypse
The Facts: It just wouldn't be an Apocalypse Playlist without some heavy metal now would it? And who better to provide it than Metallica and a cut from Death Magnetic, in which they recapture the speed metal theatrics of their eighties output complete with grisley lyrics and chugging guitars. The Fiction: Just picture any number of Metal album covers and take your pick. Whether it's an oversized demon reaping a bloody swathe over us or an army of skeleton soldiers marching upon earth's feeble forces. It's any and all of the above, but always with a maniacal, toothy laughter echoing in the background - is that the sound of James Hetfield himself?

Avenged Sevenfold - The Wicked End
The Facts: Avenged Sevenfold manage to blend not only punk aesthetics with progressive metal tendencies, but also some emo-centric lyrics with full on Chrstian fire and brimstone. And there is no better example of this than their 2005 album City of Evil and the seven minute opus of The Wicked End, complete with a choral breakdown that Tim Burton would approve of. The Fiction: Continuing our metal theme, the grim reaper sweeps the land in a skeletal chariot. Cause unknown, only now the consequences, as his gleaming scythe cuts down thousands upon thousands in a sweeping carve.

Tool - Ænema
The Facts: The (sort of) title track from their second studio album, Tool imagine if Los Angeles was swallowed by the ocean, taking with it the surfeit of artificialiality, consumer culture and a bunch of scum who deserve it (Fuck Ron L. Hubbard/and fuck all his clones). In short, flushing away all the crap and starting over - just like an enema. The Fiction: Let's run with that swallowed L.A. scenario because it would also mean the destruction of Hollywood, and probably America's economy proper. Plus all this is happening because the polar icecaps melted - so goodbye Australia, England, and 3/4 of the world's surface.

The Doors - The End
The Facts: Best remembered as the opening to Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. There has been few greater synergies between song and image as this. Robby Krieger's chromatic guitar fiddling combined with Jim Morrison's Oedipal fantasy make for a spooky and terrifying end indeed. The Fiction: War. Endless, bloody, meaningless War. So consumed by the engines of conflict the world eventually pushes the big red buttons the world over and blows itself up in a smoke of nuclear arms, biological weapons and blind hatred.

Radiohead - Idioteque
The Facts: A harsh, glacial beat loops as a wailing Thom Yorke intones a series of holocaust driven prophecies and buzz words. It could all be hyperbole if it wasn't for Yorke's keening sincerity, "We are not scaremongering." The Fiction: With the sun's energy and power fading, and mankind's race to the outer stars lapsing horribly - the earth is transformed into a dark and icy tundra of desolation.

R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
The Facts: In actual fact it's considered a surreal polemic on the re-election of Ronald Reagan, but with Stipe's fabulously open-ended lyrics, it's always been used as a chirpy anthem for our own annihilation. The Fiction: That's great it starts with an earthquake, and ends with a big song and dance. Because hey, we're all done for, but we feel fine.

Sigur Ros - Untitled #8 (Aka Poplagid)
The Facts: Though the lyrics of the Icelandic group's album ( ) are utter nonsense, (Hopelandic they call it) to which this track closes, you can still feel the emotion in them. This is more of a personal choice because in a state of fevered sleep i once had a terrifyingly realistic dream soundtracked by this song (which follows). That and the band often use it to close their live sets, which led me to dub the track an example of Ragnarok-N-Roll. The Fiction: A planet-sized meteor slouches it's way towards earth, as people of every colour, creed and nation gather to face the comet, so too does a prophetic vision reveal that the oncoming meteor too is populated. It's own inhabitants reflecting earth's in a firey mirror. As the two planets' inevitable collison draws ever closer, the striking similarities become clearer and clearer till it is as if each face of the human race is staring into it's exact copy. A large flash and...

Spooky, well, barring any world-wide plauges or a worsening in the GFC, i should be getting back to a more regular pattern of blogging. But in the meantime, do pick up Beat, and check out my various album reviews.

Cheers Dears

No Lily On The Horizon (aka It's Not Me, It's U2)

Is it just me or is 2009 just not zinging with music yet? Perhaps i'm jumping the gun a bit (It is only March) or perhaps i've been in this blogging game long enough to know that it's not brilliant music all the time. Don't get me wrong, there's already some highlights in recent times i can think of, but i've been finding myself struggling to passionately vomit post after post (a condition that's normal i promise). Jaded amateur music criticism aside, here's some reviews of some albums I have been enjoying. Take a gurnsey, oh, and apologies for the epic word count, but i figured after two weeks off i'd make up for lost time.

Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You (Regal, 2009)

A lot has happened in the three years since Lily Allen’s debut, 2006’s Alright, Still. Allen’s surprise success, word of mouth via myspace and sparky media presentation, opened the doors to a number of talented young female artists in England. Most notably Kate Nash and Adele, and to a lesser extent Duffy and Laura Marling, still these songstresses haven’t filled the void left by Allen’s absence.

Opener Everyone’s At It sets the tone for the album and is more ambitious than anything from her debut, mixing pulsing drums and a wealth of studio trickery with Allen’s still-cutting lyrics, here focusing on the behind-the-doors attitude to drugs.

Following is The Fear, an excellent lead single, rich in production with a chorus of canny synths for a refrain and Allen’s self-referential words pushed to the fore, “I want to be rich and I want lots of money/ I don’t care about clever I don’t care about funny.” The irony being that her open approach is at once both clever and funny.

Take Not Fair mixing humour with straight up realism “Oh I lie here in the wet patch/in the middle of the bed/ I’m feeling pretty damn hard done by/ spent ages giving head/then I remember all the nice things that you ever said to me/Maybe I’m just overreacting maybe you’re the one for me.”

Her disarming honesty, complete with cursing, makes her charming and likeable. Of course it helps that carrying her words is a brilliant command of effortless melody. Fuck You begins like the beginning of some romantic soapy and its bright chirpiness remains even while Allen decries racism and bigotry. Sure, it has novelty hit written all over it, but it shows her excellent ability to balance credibility with savvy pop smarts.

There’s more to the album than just canny lyrics too, where previously Allen dealt in national styles like ska and garage, It’s Not Me, It’s You looks wider positioning Lily Allen as a massive genre-flirt. Not Fair contains snatches of rock-a-billy and 22’s middle eight is rag-time piano, elsewhere there’s dance pop, dark ballads and Never Gonna Happen sounds like Zorba The Greek given a fresh funky lick of paint.

The only real time her charm fails her is on Him, him being God, and her tackling an issue just a bit above her – no pun intended. Where most of her songs contain an important subtext beneath a surfeit of off-hand language, it doesn’t gel properly here. It isn’t as crassly serious as, say Joan Osbourne wondering ‘What if God was one of us?’ but it reeks of tackiness just as badly.

Allen’s second album shows that her debut wasn’t simply a fluke, nor that her style is simply a shtick, while she’s unapologetically ‘pop’ and modern - her cheeky delivery and accessible variety make her the most interesting (and likeable) version of a diva in an age.

U2 – No Line On The Horizon (Island, 2009)

In a parallel universe where U2 aren’t one of the world’s most popular bands fronted by one of the world’s most recognisable pop stars, the release of No Line On The Horizon would be a triumph. Imagine it were the debut of an unknown entity, it would be considered a masterpiece, but – back to reality – it isn’t; it’s the product of a band whose every move is categorised with high expectations. Besides it contains the hallmarks of a group with years of experience.

Produced by the classic team of Brian Eno, Steve Lillywhite and Daniel Lanois, it’s at once capitalises on U2’s traditional sound that they’ve galvanised from 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind and 2004’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb while pushing them in some more adventurous directions.

While Bono remains Bono, all Christian references and yearning philosophy, this album sees him writing in an intriguing character driven mode. Album closer Cedars of Lebanon imagines him as a war correspondent “trying to make a deadline/Squeezing complicated lives into a simple headline.” Elsewhere the playful rocker Stand Up Comedy dips into self-parody “be careful of small men with big ideas” and the laid-back epic of Moment of Surrender contains a fantasy of anonymity “I did not notice the passers-by/and they did not notice me.”

Along with the lyrical variety is a panorama of styles. Essentially the album is strung together by a series of big radio-friendly songs such as Magnificent and I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight complete with sing-a-long choruses. But it’s the moments in-between that offer the most variety. Taking in everything from spiky rock in the form of the title track, while Breathe and lead single Get On Your Boots provide something playful. Elsewhere there’s a wintry ballad suitably titled White As Snow while the seven minute groove of Moment Of Surrender instantly cements itself among the ranks of the U2 canon alongside One.

Even for a band that has never shied away from thinking and living large, it’s an ambitious record; attempting to appeal both to the newer admirers, an iPod friendly generation, as well as the long-term fans that put the band in such a lofty position in the first place. For the most of it they succeed too.It’s very easy to forget that this is a band that’s been around for nearly three decades. Their age only shows in positive reflections like their adeptness with the studio and Bono’s occasionally richly weathered voice, despite their age they still manage to find the energy and excitement from every new album; they’re surely the envy of their peers.

Speaking of which, when recently asked by Q magazine if there were any heirs to U2’s legacy, Bono replied impishly “I would love to see more people try to knock us out. Y’know, we’re trying to get down into the middleweight. Because that’s the only place where there’s company.” Bono, love him or loath him, that’s a confidence bordering on arrogance, but in this case he’s absolutely right.

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month

It seems the horizons have expanded for the ol' rant. First up i've been accepted as a writer for Beat Magazine and on top of that Al's Music Rant will be a formal part of The Elephant Room a news and information site, with a little bit of humour and a lot of love. Go check it (and moi) out.

Working on a couple of reviews and playlists at the moment, so here's a lil' something to tide you all over.

Chris Cornell used to be a powerful voice, both literally and figuratively, in the alternative rock scene – but the operative phrase here is ‘used to be.’ While his stint as frontman of Audioslave marked a high-point for the vocalist, he soon left in search of a solo career. Like most former singers of big rock acts that set forth on their own, his solo endeavours thus far have been a patchy affair.

Although gaining resurgence thanks to his rocking Bond theme song (You Know My Name), the resultant album, Carry On, sank all momentum with by-the-numbers tunes and some horrible missteps (including a ‘serious’ cover of Billie Jean, that the less said about, the better).

So how does Cornell address his flagging relevance? By going R&B of course. You read that right. Scream sees Cornell teaming with the pop crossover superproducer Timbaland to create a strange brew indeed. At first listen you could mistake it for another of Timbaland’s Shock Value productions – until you hear the former Soundgarden singer’s distinctive growl. Even then it’s occasionally neutered into a wash of harmonies and treated vocals.

In fact Timbaland’s signature sound is all over the record often battling with Cornell’s presence for space. While it does indeed contain his grizzled croon and rock guitars to the fore, they fight for space amongst the finely polished rhythmic backing. Where it should be a mesh of styles, instead it’s, well, Long Gone’s sound and lyrics say it best, “like oil and water we always clash.”

Elsewhere Climbing Up The Walls, Sweet Revenge and Time are probably the best examples of the genre hybrid that Cornell and Timbaland are attempting to create, but most of the rest of the tracks are muddy, confused affairs that either flit too abruptly or too plain dull to engage.

Redeeming the album are the intriguing segues that give a flow and consistency to the record. But if the best thing you can say about an album are the parts between the songs – then there’s been a horrible miscalculation.

If Cornell is attempting to find a new audience, he finds himself in an uphill struggle. His name is of little significance to the R&B/pop scenesters who will only discover this album through Timbaland’s name, and his glossy production sheen is a bit much for rock purists to take on. The album is stuck in a unique purgatory between the two styles, a place where only the curious and the blindly dedicated will tread. It’s good to see an artist like Chris Cornell try something different to shake up expectations, but it feels more akin to desperation than innovation.

Check out the title track:Chris Cornell - Scream (YouTube)

and the man's website: Chris Cornell

Better Late Than Never

Whether it's trouble over at the FasterLouder camp or my articles have simply lost the shine and pizazz they formerly had; there's been a few album reviews that have yet to surface. In the fear that they becoming horribly dated compared to the speed of this fickle industry, i've decided to give them an airing here instead. After all, blogger allows me the freedom (oh, unless of course they're not just deleting my posts that are trying to promote good music willy nilly). Plus, the last time i published articles that hadn't been published yet - they magically appeared. Fingers crossed.

A Planet in Space – As The Pieces Come Together (Independent/Melodious Thump/2009)

A Planet in Space create exactly the kind of genre-hopping mash-up that is the scourge of pigeon-holing music journalists and narrow-minded enthusiasts of dispensable pop; and it is precisely this mix of styles and genres that makes them sound so new and thrilling.

Their debut EP, As The Pieces Come Together, attempts to capture their unique brand of fusion. Harnessed from two robust years on the live circuit since their inception, it demonstrates both their unorthodox line-up (two drummers, two singer/guitarists) and a variety of songs that demonstrate that a witches’ brew of styles can encapsulate a wider audience. Granted these are heady concoctions - not for the faint of heart or small of attention span – but all the more rewarding for those that take the trip.

First up is the roots-rock of Last Drop of Denial, propelled by a sinister funk groove it’s slinky, threatening and danceable all at once. As the distorted guitars and drums pick up the pace against Dan Fox Smith’s insistent vocals, it seems the track threatens to transform into something else before it ends abruptly. There’s plenty of time for exploration later it seems. Solo Tango is a reworking of older single She Don’t Wanna Dance, a popular favourite live; it retains its Spanish guitar meets Latin funk backbone but has been edited down from its original length. The lyrics, about losing out to an enticing female, play the vocal lament of Alex Hayes off of Fox Smith’s near-rapping lines to create an intoxicating energy. At times it sounds like a much busier Cat Empire sans the syrupy horns, but the track’s almost begging for them.

Sunshine Breaking Through is perhaps the most stable track of the EP, which isn’t to say that its six minutes doesn’t contain a wealth of guitar acrobatics and vocal interplay. Besides, it’s opening lyrics act like a band manifesto “The time has come to make a decision/and this music is our one mechanism/to set ourself free from this here prison/in order for us to fly;” and with the closing title track, the three-part As The Pieces Come Together, fly they do.

Starting with a simple drum beat and chopped guitar chords, it seems innocuous enough but as one soon comes to expect from A Planet In Space, the territory will soon shift. Working its way from a rock/reggae hybrid with soulful vocals through to a complete drum-and-bass electronica breakdown; leading finally to a heavy metal coda, it is the undisputed highlight of this release. Its evolution is reminiscent of progressive rock even if it borders on indulgence. It has to be heard to be believed and hints at the exciting things the group could do with the canvas of a full album.

Still, recorded at their own studio (PlantOn) and released on their own label (Melodious Thump), As The Pieces Come Together is a worthy product of their ambitions.

Make no mistake A Planet In Space won’t be for everyone, at worst it can feel like the improvisation and jamming that spawned the bedrock for these songs is merely to show off their musicianship. Their inimitable sound however, is exactly the kind of thing that encourages a hardcore fan base. And as they embark on a tour of the East Coast in support of their EP, they’re sure to pick up more than a few.

Band website: www.aplanetinspace.com

Myspace: A Planet In Space

Bon Iver – Blood Bank EP (Jagjaguwar, 2009)

Carving a path via word of mouth to impossibly good critical acclaim, Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago was arguably one of the best albums of last year. A wintry masterpiece of haunting moods, passionate vocals and a cohesive collection of songs that was as inescapably catchy as they were emotively potent.

Blood Bank is a well-timed release then, dovetailing with the end of the tour for the album, it acts both as a reminder of Bon Iver’s appeal and a space for experimentation and deviation before the next big step. The title track is an innocuous tale about falling in love at a blood bank, only Justin Vernon, the man behind the Bon Iver moniker, could turn such a meeting into a pensive rumination on impulsive love. Driven by a subtle back-beat it sees him singing in a slightly lower register than his usual stratospheric croon, but it demonstrates that even when playing it safe, he can still do magical things. Beach Baby is a short-lived track that feels much more like an out-take, featuring some lovely slide guitar before the track’s demise but ultimately it’s a short but sweet affair.

The final two tracks, Babys and Woods, demonstrate Bon Iver stretching out into sounds and moods that although singularly recognisable as the same artist, are a little more adventurous. The former features a spiral of looped piano chords and vocal harmonies that are much warmer and brighter than anything found before, meanwhile the closing Woods may ring alarm bells with its open embrace of auto-tune. Completely a capella, it repeats four lines of lyrics continuously adding layers of voices and harmonies towards an enveloping swathe of vocals. It’s a little like Imogen Heap’s Hide & Seek or a choir of robotic angels, and it won’t be for everyone but it shows an artist who is unafraid to bend any musical palette to suit his unique style and sound to harrowing effect.

At four tracks, Blood Bank won’t change the mind of anyone who wasn’t convinced thus far by Bon Iver, but considering his fast-spreading popularity, there can’t be many left who haven’t already been converted.

Stream the title track at Bon Iver's Myspace
& the haunting Woods at YouTube

The Valentine's Grinch Strikes Back

(EDIT: I'm starting to get used to having to re-up deleted posts because of mystery inclusion of songs that some phantom overseer does not like promoting. Sigh, ah well i'm guessing YouTube it is then)

Thought i'd do the kissing thing to throw you all off into thinking i was gonna let Valentine's slide without any sort of acerbic comment. Well, you were wrong, since i spent another Valentine's Day loveless and alone (awww) and instead put together, in the tradition of last year, another biting Anti-Valentine's playlist. Enjoy

AMR's Anti-Valentine's Mixtape '09

Razorlight - Who Needs Love
A deceptively jaunty opening to our mix and while Jonny Borrell's lyrics are (unsurprisingly) inconsistent, it still manages to capture a bit of rebellious attitude along with a sense of yearning.
sample lyric: Who needs the disappointment of a telephone call/not I

Franz Ferdinand - Cheating On You
The Glaswegian four-piece find themselves barreling through infidelity like it ain't no thing. The choppy guitars and driving rhythm hammer the point home in that tight modern way that the Ferdinand seem to do oh so well.
sample lyric: I'm cheating on you, yeah/You're cheating on me

My Chemical Romance - I Don't Love You
Emo balladry, a bit of a guilty pleasure i must admit, but it sees them in weepy mode as opposed to angry "i'll die and it's all your fault" mode, besides My Chem always had more depth than they were given credit for.
sample lyric: When you go would you have the guts to say/'I don't love you like i loved you yesterday'?

VAST - Winter In My Heart
As frosty as its title suggests and providing more emo than our previous entry for sure, with Jon Crosby's excellent production and string arrangements it gives the track a stirling poignance.
sample lyric: I need a summer but the summer's come and gone/I need a summer but it's winter in my heart


The Mountain Goats - No Children
It's probably meant to be a little ironic, but this is a deeply uncomfortable listen in its bitter honesty. Hoping for the mightiest of train wrecks in the ending of a relationship in a stripped-back, happy-go-lucky ditty
sample lyric: I hope it stays dark forever/I hope the worst isn't over
And I hope you blink before I do/And I hope I never get sober

Def Leppard - Love Bites
You can always rely on some hair metal to produce heart bruised power ballads like no-one else, and who better than Def Leppard?
sample lyric: When you make love/do you look in the mirror?/Who do you think of?/Does he look like me?

Van Halen - Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
That opening is a stone cold killer riff. Lee Roth mocks all macho, while brothers Van Halen rock us off of romance like it's going out of style. For those who missed the point, they're talkin' 'bout sex.
sample lyric: You know youre semi-good lookin/and on the streets again

Pet Shop Boys - You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk
Let's be honest, we've all been there at one point or another. Whether we've been the giver or receiver on the phone late at night. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have crafted that low-point into sheer pop perfection.
sample lyric: You only tell me you love me when you're drunk (you can't beat that chorus)


Spiritualized - Broken Heart
From its funereal tone and grand orchestral arrangement, the feling of heartbreak is palpable, awash with a tide of regret and pain. It's as beautiful as it is tragic.
sample lyric:And Im wasted all the time/Ive gotta drink you right off of my mind/
Ive been told that this will heal given time/Lord I have a broken heart

TV On The Radio - Don't Love You
Despite Tunde Adebimpe's soulful croon, it's hard to hide the cutting lyrics. Juxtaposed with a laconic croon and some droning experimentation, it's a meditative groove that's fuelled by quiet anger.
sample lyric: Now i can't trust your lover's tongue/Except to tease and taunt

Kanye West - Love Lockdown
Now I know i've ripped into Kanye's break-up album before (a reminder), but i stand by the fact that this hypnotic R&B cut is still the highpoint of the album. Basically because he doesn't get caught up in his own self-pity enough to let the music groove.
sample lyric: How many times i tell ya/'fore it finally got through/you lose/you lose

Friendly Fires - Lovesick
Just because you've had a gutful of valentine's and all the commercial schmaltz that goes with it doesn't mean you can't have a funky gutful. Friendly Fires are quickly becoming one of my new favourite bands, here's just another reason why.
sample lyric: Cold hearts/hold the world in your hands



Ladyhawke - Love Don't Live Here Anymore
Over her usual bed of 80's influenced soundscapes, Ladyhawke whiles away her lonely hours to a lost relationship. Much like Friendly Fires it's as danceable as it is sad.
sample lyric: Love love love is always so unsure/But bleeding hearts have always known no law

Bright Eyes - Lover I Don't Have To Love
Conor Oberst's an insightful little bugger, at the ripe of age of 22, he released this paean to lust. Articulately demonstrating how sometimes trying to simplify things, by skipping the romance for the pay-off, can only make things worse.
sample lyric: Your hands on me/Pressing hard against your jeans/Your tongue in my mouth/ trying to keep the words from coming out/You didn't care to know who else may have been you before

Stars - One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)
The spiritual sequel to the equally excellent Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, i think it perfectly captures the spirit of Anti-Valentine's. That love's not all roses, chocolates and cute teddy-bear cards, that love can sometimes lead to people doing horrible things to each other.
sample lyric: The entire second verse sung with restrained menace:
He starts with her back cause that's what he sees
When she's breaking his heart she still fucks like a tease
Release to the sky, look him straight in the eye
and tell him that now, that you wish he would die
you'll never touch him again so get what you can
leaving him empty just because he's a man
so good when it ends, they'll never be friends
one more night, that's all they can spend

A kiss is not a contract, but it's very nice...

(EDIT: Surprise, Surprise. You try to make any kind of playlist 'round here and it gets removed without a trace - grrrr - so for those who have joined us late, the neuteured version of the kissing playlist. Jeez.)

In anticipation of Valentine's Day i thought i'd put together a little playlist that celebrates the meeting of lips. Enjoy.

ONE FOR THE LIPS PLEASE

Prince - Kiss
With one of the greatest intros in contemporary pop, the one and only Prince gives us a list of do's and dont's for his potential lover. Later covered to creepier effect by a decaying Tom Jones, still you can't fault the original - a stone cold classic.

Ben Harper - Steal My Kisses
You can always rely on Mr. Ben Harper to give things a little soulful, funky groove. The infectious harmony layered-chorus and beat box percussion are memorable to say the least, a song that's as sweet as it is sexy

Joni Mitchell - In France They Kiss On Main St
The song that kickstarted my life-long love affair with Joni Mitchell. The opening track from my favourite album of hers - The Hissing of Summer Lawns - is more about nostalgia than the act of kissing, but at its core it's pure romance.

Seal - Kiss From A Rose
The only good thing that the shonky Batman Forever film gave us. I still find the bizarre imagery of the lyrics baffling, but it is this unique strangeness that gives the song its beauty... and perhaps Seal's finest moment.


Cher - The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)
Taken from the soundtrack to Mermaids, Cher's excellent cover of the 1960's Betty Everett orginal is slightly kitsch, and all the better for it. Not only that but the song has aged very well, unlike the woman herself. (ZING!)

Des'ree - Kissing You
Boy, there's a lot of songs from soundtracks. That caught me off guard, but i really couldn't resist including Des'ree and her soulful cut from Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. Steeped in yearning and subdued pain, it's really a touching piece - especially that dancing piano bridge.

They Might Be Giants - First Kiss
Time for a something a little more upbeat, cue TMBG and their rollicking live version of First Kiss. Capturing the giddy exuberance and simplicity of young love in a poppy, puppy dog way.

KISS - Kissin' Time
How could you not include them? Taken from the band's 1974 self-titled debut, it's actually a cover of an old 1959 novelty hit by Bobby Rydell. It was only added to the album on later pressings to tie in with a kissing contest.


Incubus - A Kiss To Send Us Off
Leading our compilation to a heavier edge is Incubus' excellent rocker from their prog-rock influenced 2006 album Light Grenades. It's even better live so i suggest you track down a version on YouTube or other source.(EDIT: well, now you can...)

Metallica - The Judas Kiss
Showing that even metal behemoths Metallica can get all romantic... ok so it's not really a love song, but it's still a ripping eight minutes of riffage. One of ten examples of why their latest Death Magnetic has been called their return to form album. Besides, not all kisses are nice.

Supergrass - Kiss Of Life
Supergrass have always been versatile, but even this dance-influenced groove was a bit of a surprise when it was released as part of their 10th anniversary best of compilation. A little indebted to Prince as well as the electronica scene of Madchester in the 90's, it's a funkified britpop hit as ever there was.

Pearl Jam - Last Kiss
The appropriately titled end to our list, originally released as a single, it's seen by die-hard fans as a bit of a pockmark in the Pearl Jam legacy. Ironically though, it's one of their best selling singles - especially here in Australia, where the band regularly perform it on tour.