A view from the hill

While this year is still young, I just finished writing my second review for the (German) plattentests.de. But it's been some time since my last post, so I'll also go over records from the last months that I hadn't mentioned previously.

One of the nicer surprises of last year was the new album by the Editors, "In this light and on this evening". Much less reduced pathos in comparision to their last album "An end has a start" (see my more detailed discussion of the old record here). And they still try to find new ways to vary that one old song. (8/10)

The same can not be said for Dial M for Murder!, "Fiction of her dreams", which I received for review for plattentests.de. They, too, are in the Interpol/Joy Division/etc.-sound-a-like genre, but the singer has a sometimes unnerving voice. Add 80-style keyboards and you have a record that nobody misses a review for. (5/10)

But it can get even worse: Echo & the Bunnymen, "The fountain", which I reviewed in more detail for plattentests.de, is a real disappointment, especially as their former album was a real nice comeback for this 80s heroes of guitar wave. This time all they come up with is another weak attempt of becoming the little brother of the Simple Minds. (4/10)

The Church show on "Untitled #23" (also reviewed for plattentests.de) how to just keep going constantly without losing credibility over a time about as long as the Bunnymen. A nice trip into the blue sky between the green earth and the dark cold universe, as usual. (6/10)

And the last of the records I reviewed last year, was The Xx, "The Xx" which is a very reduced low-tone record with a very nice, although cold ambiente. The young couple are not really comparable to, say, the White Stripes, as their music is much more electronic, although they are clearly grounded in alternative music. A very concise and atmospheric record, but also sometimes a little too cold and without much variation. (7/10)

But 2009 had even more to offer: The great Sonic Youth also made a new record, called "The eternal". What can you say? You get what you can expect, basically. I find the record more interesting than the last one, which is in part because the guitars are this time often so catchy instead of noisy. It's probably safe to call "The eternal" the most poppy sounding record Sonic Youth have made so far. (8/10)

Of course, I couldn't ignore Them Crooked Vultures, "Them Crooked Vultures": If there has ever been an Alternative super group, this is probably it. But the nice thing is that it's also a fantastic rock record. (8/10)

The first record for review this year was The Black Box Revelation, "Silver threats". These two guys make music somewhere between alternative rock and blues ala Jon Spencer, and nobody will be missing anything (instrument-wise, I mean). Overall, a fine record, although some songs are a little bit overdone. (6/10)

Finally, my review of the Die Aeronauten, "Hallo Leidenschaft" is just online. This Swiss band makes German pop roughly according to the so-called Hamburger Schule (school of Hamburg), which means that you can intelligent texts and catchy guitar takes. But the Aeronauten add a lot of brass sounds and do a lot to not get stuck with this not exactly new style. (6/10)

It's this time of the year again: Jahrespoll @plattentests.de again. You can still participate until 31. December 2009 and maybe win one out of 25 packages with CDs, shirts etc.

Here are my votes for this year:

So again quite some time has passed since the last record overview, but at least I'm writing the second one this year, which is more than I managed the last two years. Hey, you've got to set reasonable goals, don't you? Okay, here we go.

I only had one record for review in the meantime, "Dirty king" by The Clicks. This one seems to get a little bit of media attention on the other side of the ocean, but this alone isn't a convincing argument to write a review for plattentests.de: either the record must be liked by the reviewer or popular enough to justify writing a bashing. Neither was the case for this one, as The Clicks sound like just another boring radio aiming rock band. (4/10)

Up next is another disappointment, the "The pariah, the parrot, the delusion" by Dredg. It has to be said that the new album isn't any worse than their former one, but still it's too poppy and too half-hearted to be a great alternative album. (5/10)

Also not too convincing is "Wavering radiant" by Isis. Just like their previous records, Isis sound like a somewhat more subtle Tool cover band with the occasional shouting thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, it's hard to see any difference to their previous record and the shouting goes a little bit on my nerves this time. The song structures are a bit too predictable, too. (5/10)

But there are The Horrors with "Primary colours" which make up the disappointment easily. One might say they sound like a mix of The Cramps and The Cure which results in some rather interesting songs. There is no real hit single on the record but a lot of great tunes. (7/10)

A lot of media attention has also been given to Gossip, in fact I became aware of them via a MTV clip, which I very rarely watch. "Music for men" is the name of their new record. There are some really great songs on it, some sound like a less pathetic second coming of Toyah, while others are even punkier. But on the other hand there are also some really boring pop tunes on it, so judging the overall record isn't easy. (6/10).

While I was buying some records, my favourite record store played Black box revelation's "Set your head on fire" which immediately struck a chord with me. References would include bands ranging from Jon Spencer Blues Explosion to the StereoMCs. While there are some not so convining tracks on the album, overall it's a perfect summer record. (7/10)

Finally, I've bought a best-of compilation called "Suck and swallow" by the Hard-ons, a pretty well known australian surf and hardcore band. This is clearly a you get what you pay for record, so nothing exciting can or needs to be said. (7/10)

In the section "records from the crypt" I've bought two new old records: First, that's "Elephant" from The White Stripes with the infamous "Seven nation army" which was indeed the reason I bought the record in the first place. But there always has been the nagging urge to try to further understand the hype behind the White Stripes. I think I get it now. Looking back it's pretty funny that I've liked both the Raconteurs and the Kills earlier than the White Stripes. (8/10)

Next, there is "Goo" from Sonic Youth. The other day I went out to my trusty old record shop to buy the new Sonic Youth album, but instead went home with "Goo". I can hear my shelf screaming "Oh no, not another Sonic Youth disc", as this is probably disc number six or seven in my collection. I bought it mostly because of its cover, having heard most of the songs as far back as 1990 on a lousy live recording on tape. One of the best records of Sonic Youth, including such hits as "Kool thing", which rightly deserves its own Wikipedia page. (9/10) The new Sonic Youth was just sold out, btw.

Finally in the section 'Found and lost', we have the new albums from The View and The Whitest Boy Alive: both have been tested and been judged as not required. "Which bitch", the album by the View, makes the Killers sound as if they would have learned something from the 80s -- the View surely haven't. "Rules" on the other hand substitutes electronics for guitars, which results in an album that just can't keep up with their first record.

Through this infoworld article on the greatest cults in IT I've discovered a new band: Press play on tape. The music isn't exactly what I'm listening to daily, but I have to admit I know probaby nearly all the songs they play: cover versions of old commodore C64 tunes. I also have to admit that I'm still not sure what to make of this, but the cover version of "Crazy comets" is quite cool.

I haven't written a lot under this title in the last year, mainly because I never felt like it. This doesn't imply I stopped writing for plattentests.de (German), but I didn't write as much as I did. That won't change, however, I'll see if I can write a little about the music I get my hands on. I won't cover here now the entire 2008, but 2009 is still relatively fresh, so I'll try to talk about the records I've heard of this year so far.

My latest review for plattentests.de is the new from Bob Mould, "Life and times". That's the guy who kicked punk from hardcore to post-punk with his band Husker Du and also the one whose alternative band Sugar was quite succesful in the first half of the 90s. The new record is a mix of more quite songs and the usual alternative rockers, sugar-style, so if you know Mr. Mould, I can assure you you'll get what you pay for. (7/10)

The previous review was about Demons, "Ace in the hole". If you like punk rock firing straight out of the garage, along the likes of New Bomb Turks or Turbonegro, these Swedes are going to kick your ass. (7/10)

This years favourite so far is the new album "The century of self" by ... And you will know them by the trail of dead. I'm planning to write a longer review of the record here (i.e. for my blog), but I can say so much that I like it much more than their previous record "So divided". The new record contains at least partly more noisy songs and is a little less pathetic, so over all well done. Although, I must admit the surprises are not so numerous this time. (8/10)

Another nice record is the new one by The Decemberists, "The hazards of love". It's somewhere between a folk and a traditional hard-rock album, but what I find interesting is that it's a completely interleaved story about "Margaret". Great story telling, nice music, what else do I need? (7/10)

Then there is the new Franz Ferdinand, "Tonight: Franz Ferdinand". Although I've become rather sick and tired of this kind of disco indie pop, Franz Ferdinand are somewhat of a special exception to me. And, hey, with "No you girls" in the advert every evening, everybody is going to talk about them anyway, so I'm kind of forced to buy it, no? However, I've probably shouldn't have give in to the urge. (5/10)

Okay, so far so few. There's still a lot of records I have to check out: Whitest Boy alive, Morrissey, Mando Diao, The View all have new albums and the White Lies also got a nice review on plattentests.de. And there's guaranteed more to come.

Ich selber werde am morgigen 20.2. nicht in Freiburg, sondern beim Skifahren anderswo sein, aber wenn ich hier wäre, würde ich mir das morgige Konzert im Waldsee von The Horror The Horror anhören. THTH machen Indie-Gitarrenpop im klassischen Stil, so zwischen den Strokes und den Smiths (Reviews auf Plattentests.de siehe hier und hier). Es ärgert mich fast ein bisschen, dass ich das Konzert verpasse, denn ihr letztes Konzert im Jos Fritz war überfüllt und von miesem Sound geprägt. Im Waldsee dürften die Voraussetzungen besser sein.

Just as with their first albums, "Turn on the bright lights" and "The back room", it's hard to ignore the impulse to compare Interpols new record "Our love to admire" to the new album "An end has a start" by The Editors. While I did reviews of the first two albums for plattentests.de (here and here), I haven't reviewed the new ones there, so I'm gonna take a step at an informed comparison here, generalizing a little and also taking into account the slew of other bands that people tend to ignore.

Die taz versucht sich an der Erklärung Wie Indie-Rock den Soul verlor. Die taz und/oder auch der zitierte Frere-Jones scheinen jedoch eher jeglichen Plan verloren zu haben.

Zum einen ist es absurd, so zu tun, als wäre in den 70ern die Rockbewegung voll von schwarzer Musik gewesen. Fakt ist, dass natürlich Bands wie The Clash im Reggae-Umfeld umtriebig waren. Aber das war bei weitem nicht bei allen so. Wo ist etwa das Reggae-Stück der Sex Pistols oder von Joy Division? Dass es zeitgleich zur Explosion der Punk- und Independent-Szene auch noch ein Revival (und somit nicht eine Initialzündung) der Beschäftigung von Weißen mit schwarzer Musik gab, ist sicher eher Zufall als Absicht. Erstens gab es in der Disco-Musik der 70er viel schwarze Musik, Soul, der den Namen auch verdiente. Zweitens war gerade Reggae populär. Drittens wurde nochmal (Revival!) die Musik, die die jamaikanischen Einwanderer in die armen Viertel Englands mitbrachten, populär: Ska, mit dem typischem Offbeat, wie ihn zu der Zeit etwa die Specials, Selector oder Madness spielten. Da die Skinheads und die Punks in den gleichen Ecken hausten, ist es nicht so verwunderlich, dass es da Vermischungen gab. Aber was gab es denn jenseits vom Offbeat-Griff bei Police und Clash? Man sollte sich vielleicht mal daran erinnern, dass nach dem Ur-Punk gleich der coole Synthie-Pop bzw. New Wave gefeiert wurde.

Zum anderen ist es ebenso absurd, zu behaupten, dass im heutigen Indierock keine schwarzen Wurzeln mehr erkennbar wären. Nehmen wir ein sehr plakatives Beispiel: Bloc Party. Sehr erfolgreich mit einem farbigem Sänger. Jetzt kann man sich natürlich streiten, ob der Sound von Bloc Party "Soul" enthält, aber "Rhythmusgefühl" und "genreübergreifendes Zitieren" findet sich da ganz sicher. Aber nehmen wir noch ein anderes Beispiel daher: Die Blues Explosion, besser bekannt auch als John Spencer Blues Explosion. Sie zelebrieren ausschließlich den modernen Rückgriff des Indierocks auf alte "schwarze" Musik. Dann hätten wir noch so Bands wie "At the Drive-In", die eine sehr moderne "schwarze" Variante des modernen Post-Hardcore feierten. Was genau ist denn eigentlich der angeblich verlorene Soul? Gilt etwa ein Jimmy Hendrix auch als "schwarze Musik"? Dann sind "Motorpsycho" oder "The Mars Volta" Beleg dafür, wie sinnlos die Behauptung ist.

Moderne Musik wäre ohne den Einfluss schwarzer Musik nicht denkbar. Das gilt für Indiemusik genauso wie für das alltägliche Radiogedudel.

Last week I went to see "Broken Social Scene present Kevin Drew's 'Spirit If ...'" playing in Heidelberg. I hadn't written about it earlier because the concert wasn't very exciting. The reason I do so now is that, like most concert I visit, it made me listen more closely to the records of the band. I also bought "Spirit If ..." at the concert, right before the start. Afterwards, I was afraid to have made a classic mistake: generalize from previously nice records to a new one and buy it without a first try, and possibly wasting time, money and emotions.

Where was I? Ah, yes, the reason why I'm writing this entry now: the concert of last week was the first in a very long time in which the concert wasn't up to match the records at all. In particular, I thought that the reduced amount of band members playing and especially Kevin Drews ambitions might be responsible for the uninspired concert, as I left with the impression that Kevin was a little to self-loving and maybe even a little jealous when Branden Canning played and sung two songs that got a lot of applause. But after having listened to "Spirit If ..." now several times, I must conclude that it probably was mainly due to the reduced possibilities of only playing with six instead of the usual ump-teen players. And btw: adding volume doesn't really help -- too often I had to put on my ear plugs which only results in even more reduced distinguished tunes.

Well, I'm sure Isaac Brock wasn't too happy about his injury. Yesterday I heard that because of his injury the Modest Mouse concert in Frankfurt in June had to be cancelled, which would have taken place during my holiday. Instead, the concert now took place yesterday at the Batschkapp, and I was even able to get a card via eBay. Yes! The concert went quite well, although the Batschkapp was completely sold out. The warm-up band was pretty bad, but Modest Mouse hit the roof, although they were aiming for ... you know. What I learned during the show was that I like the songs from "Good news ..." more than the ones from "We were dead ...". This is of course an over-generalization, e.g. "Dashboard" is certainly among the best songs of MM, but overall the songs from "Good news ..." have more variation and also more life in them. But, hey, I felt almost like the protagnoist from How soon is never?, seeing Johnny Marr. Now I only have to find out from which LP that song is that they played after "Float on". Update: Some good soul from the forum on plattentests.de said it was "Tiny cities made of ashes" from "The Moon& Antarctica" and indeed, I recognized it was. However, played live, it sounded quite differently, much more powerful. And something else I forgot to mention: after the Trail of Dead in 2005, this was the second concert which featured two drummers and just as with ToD, this had a terrific effect on the sound.

Well, this post was due since quite some time now, so I'll stop babbling and go for the latest additions to my CD archive (yes, I'm an old fashioned user of those tiny discs).

First of all, I did a review of The Mission "God is a bullet", currently to be found at plattentests.de. It's nice in it's old fashioned guitar-oriented wave, but also not to convincing. Perhaps I've just become too bored with this old stuff. (5)

The Queers new album "Munki brain" also landed on my shelf for a review, but at the time there were to many better other records. We're also not exactly a punk store, so that explains the omission. The record is what you would expect from a number umpteeemth album, and I'm sure every surf punk is going to have a great time with it. Me, I'm not a surf punk, and these days only rarely a listener to punk. (5)

The nicest addition as of late is from Modest Mouse with "We were dead before the ship even sank". It provides so much niceness and comfort that you'll feel as floating around, only to trash you to the ground a mere split second later. Any fan of indie rock will probably know that legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has become a member of the band, which hasn't exactly hurt the sound. The compactness of the songs is sometimes just stunning and mostly brillantly instrumented. I do have some complaints about the drums though, but nethertheless a fantastic record. (9)

I have my share of problems with The Arcade Fire and "Neon bile" is no exception. There are a lot of good tunes on the album, but sometimes it's just too pathetic. (6)

I'm more and more bored by indie dance pop, like e.g. made by Maximo Park, whose new album I've only dipped into but refrained from buying. But I couldn't resist to buy "Ten new messages" by The Rakes for no particular good reason. Indie dance pop, all the same, though sometimes a little bit rougher, i.e. more like The Dogs. (6)

Finally, there is "Myth takes" by !!!: Just like their last record, this is dance music made for the indie discos or maybe just the other way round. Again, there are some fantastic songs on it (Heart of hearts, for instance) but then again, I may be just too old to learn to dance to this disco sound. (7)

In the category "Yesterday", I finally have "13 Songs" by Fugazi, so I can now assign a name to those songs I knew it would know. Brilliant punk rock and a must buy for anybody. (9)

No, I didn't stop listening to music, I just forgot blogging about it. But, hey, I remembered today.

The readers's poll on plattentests.de is over. "Good evening, Germany. And here are the results of the German (readers) jury." "Sorry, could you repeat that?" "Yes, here are the results of the German (editorial staff) jury." "Thank you, Germany!"

Here's what I voted:

Looking for a present, I recently stumbled upon the book "How soon is never?" by Marc Spitz. In case you liked the band The Smiths some twenty years ago ... No. Let me try to put it otherwise. Around 1986 there was no one listening to the Smiths, you would have been hating or loving them. So, if you happened to love the Smiths, "How soon is never?" is interesting as it tells the story of some ex-Smiths-fan-become-rock-journalist's life. If you like to check out what your life might have been like in case it had not provided to get over the Smiths, that is. Or perhaps you know that already.

Anyway. Naturally reading the book led me to dig out my old CDs (I own only "Louder than bombs" on vinyl. It was the first Smiths album I bought - in 1987, I think - , although that doesn't really explain it, as I think that I already owned my CD player, which btw. is still the same today). It's true what Marc writes, also in 2007 that music is still worth listening to. Similarly for my favourite other band of that time, the The Woodentops -- their live album from 1987, "Live Hypnobeat Live" is still unbelievable wrt. its intensity -- and speed, of course. I did some web searching and discovered that they seem to have played some concerts again, last year, surprisingly. If they were to play in Germany again (I saw them in 1987 in Oberhausen), I would probably travel quite some distance. There is even a new website (Woodentops portal) on which one can download MP3s of old material, including raw live material.

Yesterday, I voted for Tool as the best live band, although I hadn't seen them yet, as the concert was tonight. Well, they didn't let me down, they easily did win the price as the best live band this year [1]. The concert hall, Mannheim's Maimarkthalle, was a particular disappointment. Or in fact it wasn't, it was just the horrible surrounding I've expected it to be.

The warm-up band, Mastodon, was also a nightmare. Usually, I don't care about bad warm-up bands, but this time the sound was so loud you couldn't ignore them. The loudness was really a problem. Sometimes I felt it was just too loud although I brought and used a pack of ear protectors. Apart from that, Tool were great, especially the light show was the best what I've seen so far.

[1] It was only the fourth concert for me this year. Tomte has been great, Til Brönner (my first Jazz concert ever) was very nice, too, and The Horror The Horror, this years' best newcomer in my opinion, played a nice concert, too (although they had to fight a rather tiny location, Freiburg's Jos Fritz cafe and its ridiculous time table). But Tool was way more exciting.