Now, I like Patrick Wolf, but I can definitely see why a lot of people would find him incredibly annoying. It's the way he dresses like an Edwardian Shoreditch twat, or that mannerism of tilting his head to one side when he's talking about something, you know, really deep and meaningful, or the way he's such a tortured, gender-ambiguous elfin creature that prowls the dark recesses of his own mind so that we don't have to. BUT he also makes some very brilliant music, things like 'The Magic Position', 'Tristan', 'The Libertine' or 'Bloodbeat'.
Anywho, Patrick's back with a brand new album called Battle, which will be out at some point next Spring. The album features music made with Alec Empire from Atari Teenage Riot, so expect something quite visceral and bordering on the unlistenable (that does rhyme, yes). The album is to be released in a very unique way (yeah, cheers Radiohead!), in that it will be partly funded by the fans who can donate money to the project through Bandstocks, who will then in turn give you money back if the album sells well. In this time of economic uncertainty, will you be investing in an album by an artist who has never cracked the top 40? Give what you can people.
You can watch a little video from Patrick here. Please don't watch it if you dislike Patrick Wolf. It will lead you to enact violent acts upon your person and those around you.
Well, that was nice wasn't it?
I hope you enjoyed / endured our little countdown of the top 20 albums of 2008. It's funny because it was such an original idea and so far I haven't read any other album countdowns anywhere else. I genuinely believe that we've touched on something pretty unique in the world of music, so that's always nice...
As a way of apologising for the lack of posts recently (I think we all needed a little break, right?), here's the new video by Lily Allen. The song is called 'The Fear' and is a nice little ditty about being famous and being a young lady who is famous and who sees other young ladies who want to be famous but aren't and gets all sarcastic as young ladies can be sometimes, especially famous ones:
Good chorus.
She does look a bit like Bjork in the 'It's Oh So Quiet' video, you're right.
01. Portishead
Third
2008 was the year of patience being rewarded. Balding fans of guitar heavyweights AC/DC, Metallica and Guns ‘N Roses all saw their beloved bands release hugely underwhelming albums, a fact that lead fans of the latter to wonder, “what the fuck were you doing for the past fifteen years?” Bristol’s Portishead were guilty of the same tardiness, the difference being that they managed to not only avoid a stale re-hash of former glories, but also expand on a template that had seen a myriad of imitators in their absence. Being the oblique group of people they are, the band chose the industrial, nearly-unlistenable (but still amazing) ‘Machine Gun’ as the first single, a clever way of weeding out anyone expecting to pop Third on at a dinner party. Over the clattering, jackhammer melody sits the band’s true trump card, Beth Gibbon’s unsettling, elastic voice, an instrument so fragile it can feel intrusive just listening to it. Elsewhere, ‘The Rip’ is one of their best songs, transforming from a quiet, folksy intro into a Kraftwerk-esque electronic drone, Gibbon’s voice a thing of unimaginable beauty. Musically, Third acts as a new year zero, trying its hand at everything from prog to acoustic folk to psychedelica. It’s an abrasive, sometimes aggressive album that demands repeated listens, but once you’re hooked that’s it I’m afraid. Game Over.
Key track: 'The Rip'
02. Ladyhawke
Ladyhawke
Back home in New Zealand Ladyhawke is known by her human name, Pip Brown. Here in Musicsville, Ladyhawke has only gone and made one of the best debut albums in recent years, a collection of songs so deliriously enjoyable the album should come with a free copy of The Bell Jar to bring you back down after it’s finished. It also contains one of the best opening tracks of all time - or at least since Off The Wall – in the shape of ‘Magic’, a song so stupendous that listening to it makes you a better person (even you Rob). Elsewhere, it delivers the synthetic guitar rush of new single ‘My Delirium’, the John Hughes-soundtrack-escapee ‘Back of the Van’ and the synth-heavy ‘Paris Is Burning’, a song so catchy it’s practically illegal (“do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, doo”). In many ways, Ladyhawke is the perfect pop star; an enigmatic youngster with oodles of talent that manages to take from the past (the odd Stevie Nicks steal here, a homage to the 80s there) and simultaneously hint at the future. Prepare to have your gob well and truly smacked.
Key track: 'Magic'
03. TV On The Radio
Dear Science
For many, TV On The Radio were always going to struggle to eclipse 2006’s dense, prickly Return To Cookie Mountain, an album so good not even David Bowie could ruin it. What they didn’t realise, however, was that the band were only just getting started, Dear Science taking their art rock template and throwing in everything from Prince-esque funk (‘Golden Age’) to stadium rock balladry (well, relatively speaking) on ‘Family Tree’. Ubiquitous producer (and full-time band member) David Sitek buries surprises at every turn, be it the delicious handclaps that pepper the angry ‘Dancing Choose’, or the way Antibalas’ horn parts drive each song to new heights. Though the album appears more accessible on the surface, beneath lies an angry, pissed off core, with duel lead singers Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone taking it in turns to rail against everything from bad leaders to bad women. Too clever by half, Dear Science is an album by a band at the height of their powers, a true testament to what can happen when you question everything.
Key track: 'Dancing Choose'
04. Laura Marling
Alas, I Cannot Swim
Much was made of Laura Marling’s age when she first emerged, Bambi-like, onto the music scene this year, as if anyone under the age of twenty making good music was some kind of freak. She also caught people’s attention because unlike many young female singers she didn’t sing in a mockney accent, or wear ball gowns with trainers, or pretend she was from Dalston and not a country pile in Berkshire. At the heart of Alas, I Cannot Swim’s success (it was nominated for this years Mercury Prize don’t you know) is Marling’s voice, an instrument that flits between vulnerability and steely emotion in the blink of an eye. Lyrically, she’s not afraid to deal with big topics, from imminent death on the deceptively jaunty ‘Cross Your Fingers’ to mental illness on ‘My Manic and I’, whilst musically it’s all swooping violins, rollicking drums and on ‘Crawled Out Of The Sea’ a drunken sea-shanty choir. ‘Night Terror’ perhaps sums the album up best, a fragile tail of nightmares that starts at a whisper before gaining in strength and confronting the demons.
Key track: 'Night Terror'
05. Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
Something tells me this isn’t the only album list Fleet Floxes will be appearing in this December. But sometimes an album’s quality is so undeniable – even at Musick, where beards are hugely distrusted - that you have to go with the pack. Fleet Foxes arrived as if from nowhere in 2008 (actually, it was Seattle), fully formed and with little fuss or bluster. So hot was their winning streak that they could afford to dump songs as good as ‘Mykonos’ onto an EP that prefaced their debut album. Not that it mattered, especially with songs as good as ‘White Winter Hymnal’, ‘He Doesn’t Know Why’ and the keening, dramatic ‘Ragged Wood’. Fleet Foxes, the album, is that rare thing; an album that carries with it a knowledge of the musical past (those Beach Boys-esque close harmonies, that autumnal, almost rustic feel), but with an unnerving sense of the present. It’s an album that creates memories, be they imagined or real, of a time spent sat around a campfire with your friends, toasting marshmallows and drinking beer. Whilst other bands tie themselves in knots trying to create genuine emotion and ‘vibe’- hello Arcade Fire – Fleet Foxes manage it first time.
Key track: 'White Winter Hymnal'
