For a while I was in two minds about whether or not to write a post about this album or not. This doubt had nothing to do with my own opinions of the record, but stemmed from the fact that I found out about it through a music blog myself; Tart, over at Love Shack, Baby has rather taken this band to heart, and it was only through her review that I became aware of Dutch outfit The Black Atlantic. All I know about this band is what I learnt from Tart’s post, so surely the logical thing to do would be to link the her review and leave it at that? The only thing I have to offer is my opinion, after all… And there’s the rub; that’s all this blog’s ever contained, despite my dreams of being a “journalist”. If I ever provide real information it’s only ever as an aside to my thoughts. I imagine a fair share of you, my dear readers, are also followers of Love Shack, Baby, but then I’m also sure that some of you aren’t. And this is a great record and it would be a shame if you missed out.
The Black Atlantic released this, their debut album, back in August ’09, but they’ve only just popped up on my radar this week and they’ve got a good-sized tour scheduled for the coming months so there’s every reason to class this release as “current”. Reverence for Fallen Trees has been released for free (in exchange for an email address) here, and I’d recommend that you get your paws on it as soon as you can. One of my big fears when the digital music revolution loomed was that we’d see the end of the album as the default format for music delivery. What with iTunes and the proliferance of music blogs such as this one, it seemed that all the emphasis was being placed on individual tracks. Thankfully the idea of listening to – and more importantly making – a set of songs designed to be absorbed in one sitting, end-to-end, is still as popular as ever, and Reverence for Falling Trees is yet another sterling example of that concept.
This record is a solid thirty-five minutes of four musicians playing as a band. I’m a big fan of singer-songwriters and their propensity for bringing in outside players to create a fuller sound, but that process will never sound as complete as proper band. When all the players are working together towards a common goal and on a equal footing something magical happens, and I’d say that is most certainly what’s happened on this record. The songs aren’t particularly amazing – at best I’d describe them as competent, at worst downright european-sounding – and there’s not really anything new to be found here, but there’s a definite pleasure to found in hearing a proper band; one that’s worth my attention any day of the week.
Long story short: Get your free copy, set aside some time for it, and listen to Reverence for Falling Trees in it’s entirety. Despite it’s somewhat limited artistic scope this album still makes for a rewarding listen. All The Black Atlantic really do is make music without making any mistakes, but they do that with such style and confidence that in this case that’s all that’s needed.
As promised in the last ‘cast, here’s the Bearfaced Podcast guide to what’s going to be hot in the 2010 musical landscape. If I’m honest, this is one of the best playlists we’ve had on the ‘casts to date; there’s tracks from old BF Podcast favourites like Frightened Rabbit, Meursault and Lightspeed Champion – who all have albums out this year – as well as some new discoveries like The Kays Lavelle and The Black Atlantic. There will most likely be full reviews of all these albums as-and-when I get my hands on them, but for now this ‘cast should serve as a nice potted introduction to what I’m sure will be a great year for music.
As always, you can find the ‘cast in iTunes, download each episode directly from the Podcast page of the Bearfaced Records website, or simply listen to the embedded player below. Enjoy…
Ah, as the release date for A Winter of Mixed Drinks fast approaches (March 1st) we’re being treated to yet more Frightened Rabbit goodness. The band have released the album track Fun Stuff for fans to download, and there’s now also a competition (gosh, how exciting!).
Fun Stuff first emerged last year when a demo titled Last Tango in Brooklyn started doing the rounds. Other than the change of name, there’s not much that’s changed in the song – the production on this new version is just a bit slicker, as one would expect from an album cut. As a song, it’s what we’ve come to expect from Hutchison & co. Bitter and acerbic, after the lairy roustabouts that were the previous two singles, Swim Until You Can’t See Land and Nothing Like You, it’s nice to hear hints of the softer touch that made Midnight Organ Fight such a lasting success.
As for the competition, head over to the band’s Muzu channel for the full lowdown (as well as a few FR videos too). Submit a cocktail recipe (see what they did there?) by the 15th Feb. to be in with a chance of winning free FR gig tickets and an after-show drink with the band.
I often take great pleasure in being contrary; if most of the blogoshere says that 2+2=4 there’s half a chance I’ll say it’s 5 (because on occasion it is…*). Every so often, however, I find myself agreeing with the throng. The new Maxwell Panther LPDo You Feel Different Yet? has just been released on Song, by Toad Records, and every single review that I’ve read makes quite a fuss of the production values. Everyone appears to be reveling in the low-fi nature of the recording, so naturally I’d made up my mind not to descend to this oh-so-obvious observation. Alas, one cannot fully discuss the music of Maxwell Panther without touching on the production; it was the elephant in the room for my first attempt at writing this review, not of the Do You Feel Different Yet? LP – because I’ve not heard all of it – but of the Sound is a PlaceEP launched through Bandcamp late last year.
First and foremost, the songs are good; I could blather on about the production until the cows come home, but it would all be somewhat pointless if the songs didn’t cut the mustard. Often one will come across a record that can be flatteringly described as “scratchy” where the songs are as ropey as the production; it’s quite common to find something of worth hidden under the flaws, and see the “potential” in the record, at the very least on a “their next record is going to be great” level. Thankfully with Sound is a Place, the songwriting is a fait accompli; mature and sophisticated, there’s no need to look for the “potential” because it’s already been realised. And this is a crucial point when discussing a record such as this. It’s practically universally agreed that the songwriting is the most important element of a record, and it’s certainly a point of view I agree with. A good song can easily eclipse bad technique, but that’s not the case with this record – the writing is of such a high standard that the production ethos can only be an artistic choice.
Long Story Short: To listen to Sound is a Place and think that the production is “bad” is to miss the point entirely; the fuzziness, the hiss, it’s all intentional. This EP should be absorbed as a complete package, as the production re-enforces the songwriting which in turn re-enforces the production… Sound is a Place can be bought via an “honesty box” system over at the Maxwell Panther Bandcamp page, and the new album Do You Feel Different Yet? is out now on Song, by Toad records.
I often wax lyrical about how most of the albums that still stand up as favourites years down the line weren’t the ones that really impressed on their first spin on the hi-fi. Most albums that impress straight away do so because they are, in a nut shell, shallow; that is to say, you hear everything that there is to hear instantly, and every repeat listen only serves to diminish the record’s appeal. The albums that stand the test of time are more often than not the ones in which the currents run deeper; repeat listens are required to fully expose the subtlety of the work, and each further listen reveals new, intriguing facets and enhances the experience of the listener. I’m not one to blow my own trumpet (much, at least, and this isn’t all that much of an achievement anyway…), but it’s fair to say that I listen to a lot of music – and crucially a large percentage of the music I listen to is new music – so I think I am fully qualified to make the following statement:
Albums that blow you away on their first listen and still sound amazing hundreds of listens down the line are exceedingly rare occurrences.
I listen to at the very least five or six new albums every week, and in the last three or for years I can only think of one record that blew me away when I first heard it and still sounds as fresh and impressive today*. I’m certainly not saying that these albums are any better than the ones that you grow to love (to be honest, about 70% of my all-time-favourite albums weren’t ones that impressed first time around – I think the act of growing to love a record over time leads to a stronger relationship with said album) but the very fact of their rarity makes them something special, something to be treasured.
Now what, I hear you gasping with bated breath, does this lengthly preamble have to do with Broadcast 2000‘s first full-length record, Broadcast 2000? Well, quite frankly this album knocked me for six. By the middle of the opening track I was entranced, and sat still and utterly captivated until the record’s closing moments. For the reasons I mentioned above I delayed reviewing it for about a week; would this be just another shallow piece of work that says all it has to say on the first listen? After a week of constant listening I can say that shallow it is not. Whether or not I’m still equally enamored of Broadcast 2000 a year down the line only time can tell, but I’m pretty confident that this album’s going to be a favourite for a good long while.
As is always the case, accompanying this record through my letterbox was a sheet full of the inevitable PR gumph and hyperbole, but in this case I’m inclined to believe it. It seems that Joe Steer, the wunderkind behind Broadcast 2000, has been doing rather well for himself; his 2008 debut EP Building Blocks must have ended up in the right ears, as this LP was produced by Eliot James (he co-produced the third Kaiser Chiefs album with Mark Ronson, and his credit can be found on tracks by Bloc Party and Kate Nash) and features violin by Tom Hobden from Noah and the Whale (who’s album was produced by non other than, you guessed it, Eliot James). In fact, the string arrangements on this record are one of the things that really stand out as being above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty excellent; subtle, yet choppy and angular enough to be really interesting even though they are buried amongst so many other elements. I’m not often one to make “it-sounds-like-the-music-of-x-fused-with-the-music-of-y” style comparisons, but the glockenspiel and esoteric percussion on this album put me in mind of nu-folk scenster Adem‘s 2006 LP Love and Other Planets, but while the songs on Love… were sprawling, introspective pieces, the songs on Broadcast 2000 are actually rather energetic and approachable.
Long Story Short: Will Broadcast 2000 live up to my expectations and be the elusive prize of all music obsessives – an album that gives an astoundingly great first impression and continues to deliver years down the line? We’ll have to wait and see, but in this instance the chances are far higher than normal. This is an absolute blinder of an album and I strongly urge all of you to grab yourselves a copy when it’s released. The LP Broadcast 2000 will arrive on the 22nd of February, courtesy of Groenland Records.
Broadcast 2000 – Rouse Your Bones
Broadcast 2000 – Get Up and Go**
Addendum: at the request of the band these tracks are stream-only, but they have – in an excellent and blog-savvy move – provided a couple of acoustic tracks for download:
*Frightened Rabbit’s Midnight Organ Fight, from 2008, if you’re interested. Not necessarily the best album of the last few years, but the only example of this rare beast, the instant and long-term favourite, that I can think of…
For a while I was in two minds about whether or not to write a post about this album or not. This doubt had nothing to do with my own opinions of the record, but stemmed from the fact that I found out about it through a music blog myself; Tart, over at Love Shack, Baby has rather taken this band to heart, and it was only through her review that I became aware of Dutch outfit The Black Atlantic. All I know about this band is what I learnt from Tart’s post, so surely the logical thing to do would be to link the her review and leave it at that? The only thing I have to offer is my opinion, after all… And there’s the rub; that’s all this blog’s ever contained, despite my dreams of being a “journalist”. If I ever provide real information it’s only ever as an aside to my thoughts. I imagine a fair share of you, my dear readers, are also followers of Love Shack, Baby, but then I’m also sure that some of you aren’t. And this is a great record and it would be a shame if you missed out.
Eaten by Monsters 